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Old August 1st 11, 10:06 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Posts: 10,881
Default Help! Can't delete a file in Windows XP!

Guy Fletcher wrote:

This should be so simple on the face of it, but aaaaargh!

In a nutshell, I have a virus that has corrupted the USERINIT registry
entry. Identified it ok. Just need to delete c:\program\abc\def.exe (I
got the name from regedit.)

1. I can't delete folder "abc" because it says it's "not empty". Fair
enough, I'll delete "def" first.
2. Uh huh. Says "def" isn't there.
3. I go into DOS (or rather the command prompt feature of WXP).
4. I do the ATTRIB command for -r -s -h, and it takes it without error
message..... BUT nothing's changed, at all!
5. Read on the internet that the TYPE command ignores whether files
are hidden/system, so I do that on def.exe.
6. YES! It lists gobbledegook (as expected with .exe data) so that
proves it DOES exist and is still there.

So - the question seems to be why the ATTRIB command had no
effect..... anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks
Guy


When logged into Windows, have you tried the following?
- Load and leave loaded Task Manager.
- Kill all instances of explorer.exe (your desktop disappears).
- New - Task menu to run cmd.exe to load a console shell.
- Do a file/folder delete in the console window.
- Use New - Task menu to reload explorer.exe (your desktop reappears).

Alternatively, have you tried the following to delete the file/folder?
- Booting Windows into its Safe Mode?
- Into its Recovery Console mode?
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