deleting files...

[Boomer]

I am gettin pretty annoyed with my computer ;p Is there a way to force a delete of files under WinXP?? Some files im trying to delete say their in use but they arent. It says they are read-only i change to not read-only but then if i check them again after changing them to not read only they are read only again!! So pretty much is there any way i can delete these files?

[FA-MAS]

Are these files on an NTFS or a FAT partition? If a FAT partition, just make a DOS boot disk, boot with that disk. Then delete those files in DOS.

But if it is an NTFS partition, Run msconfig and uncheck everything in the startup section, then reboot. Then try to delete those files. It should be ok. Then run msconfig again and re-check those things that you unchecked and reboot.

Later

[Boomer]

i unchecked everything and rebooted tried to delete them again and still getting the access denied...here is complete message

Cannot delete: Access is denied
Make sure disk is full or not write protected and that file is not in use.

it is none of those things. This problem has happened a few times and i think i know what causes it. It is when i cut the file and then with same window i change directories and paste where i want it to go. If i cut and paste to a different window it works fine.

Any other suggestions on how to get rid of these files? They arent even useable they are just there and its annoying me hehe

[Beefy]

what files are they, if you don't mind me asking?

[Boomer]

well a few are on the start menu for ultima online i put a shortcut in the ultima online folder to uoassist and then the other file that wont delete is uotrace which i just tried cutting and pasting how i explained above and it messed it up.i forget if any other files have done this off the top of my head but those are the ones im messing with atm

[fragman]

The access denied error can be an indicator of a number of things:
- you don't have permission to access the file
- the file is actually in use
- the file was encrypted by another user

Some things to try:
-Make sure that your user is a computer administrator!
-try and delete the files in safe mode (F8 at the first bit of startup)

I'm not sure if the different window thing is the issue here. If you are running the NTFS file system, then every file and folder has a thing called NTFS permissions. These are cumulative except for deny, which means for example if you put a file that has full control into a folder that deny on the modify permission, then permission to modify(delete) will be denied. Cutting a long story short, make sure you are an administator and change the permissions (to full control to either "everyone" or at least your user) on the FOLDER that contains the files, that will then propagate to all files contained within the folder. Get to the permissions for the folder by right clicking, getting properties, then selecting the security tab.

[DigitalDD]

you can also boot off the XP CD into recovery console, which looks a lot like DOS and delete the files that way. I don't recommend it unless you know exactly what you are doing though.

[Jebus]

did you kae shure the files are not currently being used somehow? try ctr atlt delete adn look in there

[Andy]

i'm not quite sure how to explain this in words, when you select the file, make sure the "details" section of the menu on the left is up. so instead of this:

[Andy]

have it like this: