[Ham-Computers] RE: File Remover Software

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Joe,

It depends on "why" the files/folders can't be deleted.  If they're set
to "Read Only", then it's as simple as removing the "R" attribute on
file/folder before deleting it.  If the file/folder is currently opened
(in use), then a file lock is in place and Windows is preventing you
from deleting it.  If this is the case, then you'll need to find out
what's keeping the file/folder open and to close/kill that process in
order to delete the file.

An alternative, if your system is running FAT32 is to just boot from a
DOS disk and delete the files while in a "booted" DOS session.  Once
done, you may get some errors when starting Windows if these files were
loading at startup - hopefully, none of these were "critical" Windows
files.  Important note:  Shutdown and TURN OFF the PC before booting to
a DOS boot disk when suspecting a virus - some virii are able to survive
a warm-boot by staying resident in memory and intercepting the warm-boot
routines.

Booting into "Safe Mode" may also allow you to delete these files as
Windows will then only load what's minimally necessary to run.  Even so,
there are some spyware apps and virii that mark themselves as a
"critical" component and will load even in "Safe Mode".  If the
files/folders you want to delete fall in this category, then you still
may not be able to delete these files/folders in "Safe Mode".

And, one last alternative is to pull the drive out and stick it in a
different system as a secondary drive.  On that system, boot normally
and access the suspect drive as the "D:" drive (or E:, F:, whatever) and
delete the files/folders you need to.  Then shutdown and put the drive
back in it's original system.

It's also possible to use the Recovery Console, if installed; but I
won't cover that as most people don't have it installed.

More importantly, find out what virus you had/have and make sure your
system is completely clean!  Use one/some of the free on-line scans from
a legitimate AV vendor (Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc).  Going
through all this clean-up only to remain infected would be a fruitless
effort!

73 & GL,


  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O (ex-KD6DAE)
    {nn6o}@arrl.net
    {aaron.hsu}@nbcuni.com
    No-QRO Int'l #1,000,006
    . -..- - .-. .-   ".... . .- ...- -.--"
 

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] File Remover Software


I just tried that and got a bunch of "access denied" messages,. As I
recall there is a way to make the files accessible,  but my DOS manual
is long gone. I guess I should get another one. Maybe I can find the
equivalent on the NET. (Using XP)

Thanks de Joe. W6RLL

On Dec 7, 2005, at 15:49, Philip wrote:

> Boot into DOS and delete them that way. . .
>
> 73 de Phil  KO6BB
>
>
>> Hello,
>> I have some files on my hard drive that Windows cannot remove. Some
>> of them happen to be Norton Anti Virus program files that are 
>> infected with a virus (How's that for irony :-) ) Is there a 
>> recommended software package that will give me more file removal 
>> control than Windows does? Thanks,
>> Joe Young W6RLL