Can't Delete A File

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On my daughter’s laptop apparently a jpeg file has become corrupt and I cannot delete it. No matter how I highlight it it freezes the computer to the point that only holding the power button down for a few seconds will get it to reboot. The task manager won’t come up either and it freezes a deep scan by McAfee also. I even tried to delete the file in the safe mode and still the computer freezes. Any suggestions on how I can get this file off her computer for her?

OK now another problem cropped up. Before leaving her home I had started a chkdsk c: /r it got to 58% and froze up there. Now when she holds down the power button and reboots it it goes into the chkdsk again. How do I cancel that chkdsk? I know you can by pass it at startup but I want to cancel it.

The computer is not at my location so any suggestions will take a little longer to try than normal just so you know I am not ignoring any suggestions.

Thanks

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On my daughter’s laptop apparently a jpeg file has become corrupt and I cannot delete it. No matter how I highlight it it freezes the computer to the point that only holding the power button down for a few seconds will get it to reboot. The task manager won’t come up either and it freezes a deep scan by McAfee also. I even tried to delete the file in the safe mode and still the computer freezes. Any suggestions on how I can get this file off her computer for her?

The computer is not at my location so any suggestions will take a little longer to try than normal just so you know I am not ignoring any suggestions.

Thanks

I use Unlocker or Who Lock Me both achieve the same results but in a different way.
WhoLockMe http://wholockme-explorer-extension.en.softonic.com/
Unlocker http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

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I use Unlocker or Who Lock Me both achieve the same results but in a different way.
WhoLockMe http://wholockme-explorer-extension.en.softonic.com/
Unlocker http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

I get a message at the “Unlocker” site saying it has been reported as unsafe and the other sites talks about a file that gives a message that it can’t be moved or deleted because it may have been locked. I’m not sure about that one either because I get no message at all. The computer just freezes and the only thing that moves is the mouse but it doesn’t function as anything but a moving cursor.

Thanks

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I get a message at the “Unlocker” site saying it has been reported as unsafe and the other sites talks about a file that gives a message that it can’t be moved or deleted because it may have been locked. I’m not sure about that one either because I get no message at all. The computer just freezes and the only thing that moves is the mouse but it doesn’t function as anything but a moving cursor.

Thanks

Please explain why you would get a “message at the Unlocker site” about a file on your system. Unlocker is a utility that you download and install on your system to unlock a file that is being used by another process and cannot be moved, deleted or renamed and Unlocker helps you with these tasks. Have you downloaded and installed Unlocker ??

If you have and are still having problems you might try Dr. Delete to get rid of the file. It schedules the file to be deleted on the next reboot before it is in use by any other process and doesn’t interact with the file when scheduling the deletion so it shouldn’t compromise your system with whatever interacting with this file is doing. HTH

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Please explain why you would get a “message at the Unlocker site” about a file on your system. Unlocker is a utility that you download and install on your system to unlock a file that is being used by another process and cannot be moved, deleted or renamed and Unlocker helps you with these tasks. Have you downloaded and installed Unlocker ??

If you have and are still having problems you might try Dr. Delete to get rid of the file. It schedules the file to be deleted on the next reboot before it is in use by any other process and doesn’t interact with the file when scheduling the deletion so it shouldn’t compromise your system with whatever interacting with this file is doing. HTH

Maybe I am being misunderstood. I get that message as soon as I click on the link to “Unlocker.” If others don’t get it I have no explanation for that. This is what I see.

This website has been reported as unsafe
ccollomb.free.fr

We recommend that you do not continue to this website.
Go to my home page instead

This website has been reported to Microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information.

More information

This website has been reported to contain the following threats:

Malicious software threat: This site contains links to viruses or other software programs that can reveal personal information stored or typed on your computer to malicious persons.

Learn more about phishing
Learn more about malicious software
Report that this site does not contain threats
Disregard and continue (not recommended)

Thanks for the link. I will look into it too.

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Maybe I am being misunderstood. I get that message as soon as I click on the link to “Unlocker.” If others don’t get it I have no explanation for that. This is what I see.

This website has been reported as unsafe
ccollomb.free.fr

I’ve not had a problem of the very few occasions that I’ve used Unlocker. You can download it from Download Unlocker 1.8.7 – FileHippo.com or Unlocker – Free software downloads and software reviews – CNET Download.com rather than its homepage.

Joe

--Joe

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I’ve not had a problem of the very few occasions that I’ve used Unlocker. You can download it from Download Unlocker 1.8.7 – FileHippo.com or Unlocker – Free software downloads and software reviews – CNET Download.com rather than its homepage.

Joe

Thanks all of you and I’ll look to this link as well. I just hope to get something to work. I am going to break out the other part of my question and start a new thread. I had added that question after the first response and it hasn’t been resolved with the answer I found on the Internet.

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Thanks all of you and I’ll look to this link as well. I just hope to get something to work. I am going to break out the other part of my question and start a new thread. I had added that question after the first response and it hasn’t been resolved with the answer I found on the Internet.

I think there’s a connection between the chkdsk problem and this problem jpg file and it sounds like virus or malware (given the strange sounding message you got trying to go to the Unlocker site – (sounds suspicious to me!). Can you run Malwarebytes or try to run it?

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I think there’s a connection between the chkdsk problem and this problem jpg file and it sounds like virus or malware (given the strange sounding message you got trying to go to the Unlocker site – (sounds suspicious to me!). Can you run Malwarebytes or try to run it?

Hi Al. I think you may be right about the .jpg file being part of the problem. However, the message I get at that “Unlocker” site is from an entirely different computer – mine. I never have any problems going to any site but when I get a message like that one I do not take any chances. It may be as someone else mentioned here some setting in mt IE 8 configuration but I have never seen it at any other site.

Thanks.

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I think there’s a connection between the chkdsk problem and this problem jpg file and it sounds like virus or malware (given the strange sounding message you got trying to go to the Unlocker site – (sounds suspicious to me!). Can you run Malwarebytes or try to run it?

It may also be worth running a scan for rootkits

The tool in my kit for deleting ‘resistant’ files is KillBox which can delete on reboot

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It may also be worth running a scan for rootkits

The tool in my kit for deleting ‘resistant’ files is KillBox which can delete on reboot

Thank you. I’ll look into that.

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I’ve not had a problem of the very few occasions that I’ve used Unlocker. You can download it from Download Unlocker 1.8.7 – FileHippo.com or Unlocker – Free software downloads and software reviews – CNET Download.com rather than its homepage.

Joe

Hi

Maybe I am being misunderstood. I get that message as soon as I click on the link to “Unlocker.” If others don’t get it I have no explanation for that. This is what I see.

This website has been reported as unsafe
ccollomb.free.fr

This is Microsoft Security protecting you from yourself.
The address bar in IE8 turns “red”.

If you trust a site, add it as a trusted (I’m talking IE8 on XP PRO) site.

Good Luck.

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Hi

This is Microsoft Security protecting you from yourself.
The address bar in IE8 turns “red”.

If you trust a site, add it as a trusted (I’m talking IE8 on XP PRO) site.

Good Luck.

Thank you for the explanation. It may well be the reason.

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Maybe I am being misunderstood. I get that message as soon as I click on the link to “Unlocker.” If others don’t get it I have no explanation for that. This is what I see.

This website has been reported as unsafe
ccollomb.free.fr

We recommend that you do not continue to this website.
Go to my home page instead

This website has been reported to Microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information.

More information

This website has been reported to contain the following threats:

Malicious software threat: This site contains links to viruses or other software programs that can reveal personal information stored or typed on your computer to malicious persons.

Learn more about phishing
Learn more about malicious software
Report that this site does not contain threats
Disregard and continue (not recommended)

Thanks for the link. I will look into it too.

My apologies, I did misunderstand what you were saying. I personally do not get that warning when I go to their site and have never had any issues with the software. It may have something to do with your security software or settings.

As Joe suggested, there are other options available to DL the file and Hans recommendation of FileAssassin either stand alone or part of Malwarebytes is also a good alternative. Dr. Delete will allow you to type the filepath into the box and not touch the actual file so it may be the easiest option.

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Please explain why you would get a “message at the Unlocker site” about a file on your system. Unlocker is a utility that you download and install on your system to unlock a file that is being used by another process and cannot be moved, deleted or renamed and Unlocker helps you with these tasks. Have you downloaded and installed Unlocker ??

If you have and are still having problems you might try Dr. Delete to get rid of the file. It schedules the file to be deleted on the next reboot before it is in use by any other process and doesn’t interact with the file when scheduling the deletion so it shouldn’t compromise your system with whatever interacting with this file is doing. HTH

I just read the instructions for Dr. Delete and I am fairly certain I am going to have to use the command line as stated here 1. Launch it with a command-line argument, like DrDelete “myfile”. Dr Delete will start up and place “myfile” in its textbox

My question since I have not used DOS for so long is how would I type the command for “myfile” when the file is located in C:Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsMy Picturesfilenname when I believe DOS doesn’t recognize anything over 8 characters? I think the tilde character come into play but I don’t remember how to use it in such a command as listed here, I can’t browse to it or drag and drop it because the computer will freeze as soon as the file is highlighted.

Thanks

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My question since I have not used DOS for so long is how would I type the command for “myfile” when the file is located in C:Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsMy Picturesfilenname when I believe DOS doesn’t recognize anything over 8 characters? I think the tilde character come into play but I don’t remember how to use it in such a command as listed here, I can’t browse to it or drag and drop it because the computer will freeze as soon as the file is highlighted.

If a path contains blanks you will have to put it in double-quotes, as in ”C:Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsMy Picturesfilenname” .

What is the actual name of the undeletable file, by the way?

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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If a path contains blanks you will have to put it in double-quotes, as in ”C:Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsMy Picturesfilenname” .

What is the actual name of the undeletable file, by the way?

I’m not sure the exact file name because I don’t have the computer here to look at but it is a photo and it ends in .jpg. and it is in that folder we both mentioned. If Windows Explorer’s View is set to Icon it shows the picture but soon as it is highlighted the computer freezes, as I said before.

So you’re saying that the path can be specified using long file names and not the 8 character limitation of DOS? I hope that works. Thank you,

Hans, thank you too for the suggestion.

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So you’re saying that the path can be specified using long file names and not the 8 character limitation of DOS? I hope that works.

I do it ‘all the time’! My reason for asking about the filename is that there was a tiny possibility that it might have been one of the ’reserved’ filenames like CON, LPT1, COM3, etc, whose deletion causes amazing amounts of trouble.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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You could also try FileASSASSIN from the makers of MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. It is also part of that popular utility, so if you have it already, you don’t need to download FileASSASSIN. Simply open MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, activate the More Tools tab and click FileASSASSIN.

(I don’t know how effective it is, I’ve never had to use it)

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Thank you. I’ll look into those.

I found this as far as stopping the chkdsk

1.Start > Run > regedt32
2.Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
3.Open the BootExecute key
4.Remove the line that says: autocheck autochk /r ??E: where “E:” is your drive letter
5.Exit Regedit and reboot, and no scan will execute

Why regedt32 instead of regedit? They both seem to bring up the registry. Is there a difference?

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Just read this whole thread and a couple of things came to mind.
1). The DOS command in the cmd window is as follows:
C:Documents and Settingsaccount nameMy DocumentsMy Pictures>del filename.jpg
If this doen’t delete, try to rename the EXT, then delete.

2). I too went to the unlocker link which was given with no problems. It appears that there may be malware causing
a redirection to a look alike web page, Hence: ” We recommend that you do not continue to this website. Go to my homepage
instead”. Could this be a malware redirection or is this message coming from your browser and/or security settings?
When using unlocker, you need to be in the admin. account.

3). Although I’m not certain, but maybe malware/virus or something of this sort maybe the root cause of all the problems
posted about the jpg file and chkdsk.

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Just read this whole thread and a couple of things came to mind.
1). The DOS command in the cmd window is as follows:
C:Documents and Settingsaccount nameMy DocumentsMy Pictures>del filename.jpg
If this doen’t delete, try to rename the EXT, then delete.

2). I too went to the unlocker link which was given with no problems. It appears that there may be malware causing
a redirection to a look alike web page, Hence: ” We recommend that you do not continue to this website. Go to my homepage
instead”. Could this be a malware redirection or is this message coming from your browser and/or security settings?
When using unlocker, you need to be in the admin. account.

3). Although I’m not certain, but maybe malware/virus or something of this sort maybe the root cause of all the problems
posted about the jpg file and chkdsk.

I can’t rename the file because just highlighting it causes the computer to freeze. I never thought of the trying the DOS delete command and I never did use it as you show above I always had the “del” command as the first in the command but that was back when the names were only 8.3 I am assuming that the “>” is part of the command now as you show it but I’m not sure if quotes should be placed around all the command since it is longer that 6 characters. Do I use the quotes in the command?

She could well have malware or a virus but we cannot run a deep scan using McAfee because it too freezes up the computer.

As far as the message I get at that site it may be like 3strokes just pointed out since I am using IE8.

Thanks for the new idea.

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I never thought of the trying the DOS delete command and I never did use it as you show above I always had the “del” command as the first in the command but that was back when the names were only 8.3 I am assuming that the “>” is part of the command now as you show it but I’m not sure if quotes should be placed around all the command since it is longer that 6 characters. Do I use the quotes in the command?

The actual command in texian1836’s example is just

del filename.jpg

The part before that

C:Documents and Settingsaccount nameMy DocumentsMy Pictures>

is not part of the command, it’s just the path of the file that the Command Prompt window shows by default. The idea is that you use the command

CD “folder name”

to navigate to the folder containing the problem file, then type the command

del filename.jpg

where filename.jpg is the name of the problem file.

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The actual command in texian1836’s example is just

del filename.jpg

The part before that

C:Documents and Settingsaccount nameMy DocumentsMy Pictures>

is not part of the command, it’s just the path of the file that the Command Prompt window shows by default. The idea is that you use the command

CD “folder name”

to navigate to the folder containing the problem file, then type the command

del filename.jpg

where filename.jpg is the name of the problem file.

Thanks Hans for the explanation. It’s been a long time since I even thought of DOS.

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Well I wanted to report what the conclusion to this problem was.

Of course I couldn’t remember how to change directories to get to the directory where that bad .jpg file was so I installed the MS Powertoy which adds the “Open Command Window Here.” Then the file was not 8.3 but I tried the “del” command with quotes around the file name and was able to delete it immediately. Once the file was deleted I previewed all the other *.jpg files she had and all worked as they should. I then tried a McAfee deep scan which had been freezing the computer, if you recall. It ran fine and deleted three almost insignificant files, tracking cookies I believe they were. In any case there was no serious threat found.

Getting brave after this I ran the chkdsk /r that had been completely freezing the machine at 58% and it ran perfectly and completed in just a little over an hour.

All seems well now and I find it hard to believe that one corrupt “jpg” file could cause all this trouble but apparently it did. This may be one for the books if it has never been heard of before.

Thanks again to all of you for the help you gave me.

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Well I wanted to report what the conclusion to this problem was.

Of course I couldn’t remember how to change directories to get to the directory where that bad .jpg file was so I installed the MS Powertoy which adds the “Open Command Window Here.” Then the file was not 8.3 but I tried the “del” command with quotes around the file name and was able to delete it immediately. Once the file was deleted I previewed all the other *.jpg files she had and all worked as they should. I then tried a McAfee deep scan which had been freezing the computer, if you recall. It ran fine and deleted three almost insignificant files, tracking cookies I believe they were. In any case there was no serious threat found.

Getting brave after this I ran the chkdsk /r that had been completely freezing the machine at 58% and it ran perfectly and completed in just a little over an hour.

All seems well now and I find it hard to believe that one corrupt “jpg” file could cause all this trouble but apparently it did. This may be one for the books if it has never been heard of before.

Thanks again to all of you for the help you gave me.

Maybe extremely off-topic at first sight… but are you using TrueImage (to manage backups and images)? I’ve had something similar with older versions of TrueImage that can mess-up NTFS (the way the hard-disk is organized) when files are restored. That makes files behave very strange AND makes it almost impossible to delete them as well…

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Maybe extremely off-topic at first sight… but are you using TrueImage (to manage backups and images)? I’ve had something similar with older versions of TrueImage that can mess-up NTFS (the way the hard-disk is organized) when files are restored. That makes files behave very strange AND makes it almost impossible to delete them as well…

No she isn’t using anything to backup. I have even had a hard time getting her to back up any data files she creates so I copied manually everything from her My Documents folder itself to a CD for her before I did anything, I only copied that folder and none of its sub folders because that is where the bad jpg file was. So now she is set for a while at least.

Thanks

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Well I wanted to report what the conclusion to this problem was.

The wonders of DOS => the Command Prompt window = command line interface!

Still alive and kicking in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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The wonders of DOS => the Command Prompt window = command line interface!

Still alive and kicking in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008…

Huh?

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The wonders of DOS => the Command Prompt window = command line interface!

Still alive and kicking in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008…

Really John. People will talk about you and DOS if you keep this up.

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Glad you got it sorted out and got rid of that pesky file. Thanks for posting back with the details of the solution.

The moral of your tale seems to be to never underestimate the power of a corrupt file.

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