deleting files from my documents

Chris1973 · 09-01-2005, 20:33

Hi All,

Just a quickie. I have 5 files in my documents that I cannot just delete. They are files (which I have not opened) that I downloaded and ripped onto a disk for my mates old laptop (drivers). When I go to delete them it says they are being used etc and they cannot be deleted. So they are just stuck there and I definately havent opened them. Any ideas? I am running xp home.

Cheers, Chris.

nffc · 09-01-2005, 20:38

Boot into safe mode and try again?

(Keep pressing F8 when your PC starts up and eventually you'll get a menu, select Safe Mode and either log in to your account or the Admin one, for which the password is set as blank by default in XP home)

09-01-2005, 20:39

One thing which sometimes works is deleting from the command line.

Raistlin · 09-01-2005, 22:59

What did you use to download them?

If it was a download manager or a torrent application, is the program running in the background?

Failing that, boot into Safe Mode as nffc suggests and see if you can delete them from there.

Chris1973 · 10-01-2005, 17:38

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your responses on this. I have tried to run in safe mode and delete them but it still says the same thing, "being used by another program or person etc". I downloaded them with the default download client for windows, no clients or software used. They are drivers for a old toshiba satellite pro that I formatted and re-installed everything for my mate. Once I burnt them to disk and sorted his pc out and came to delete them from mine they are stuck on there. I'll give it a few more days and see if anybody comes up with the solution otherwise I will have to do a system restore!. Many thanks. Regards, Chris.

P.S. If it makes any difference I am running a HP Pavillion notebook model zd7377ea

ian@huth · 10-01-2005, 18:00

Have you tried changing the file attributes to make sure they are not marked read only and then trying to remove in safe mode.

Would a program like MoveOnBoot get rid of them? http://www.snapfiles.com/get/moveonboot.html

paulyoung666 · 10-01-2005, 18:15

how are you trying to delete them , i.e. right click delete , dragging them to the recycle bin or right clicking and moving them to the recycle bin , somewhere in my dim past i remember having to do something different than normal to remove some files , although of course i could be talking utter ********

to the site btw

goldchip · 10-01-2005, 18:15

Try booting into "safe mode, command prompt only" and deleting them in DOS

Chris1973 · 10-01-2005, 21:14

Hi,

I have downloaded move on boot and am going to install it and see what that does. I am just right clicking and selecting delete, the usual way. I havent tried dragging etc but I will now. I'll keep you posted as I am sure others will find this exercise useful as it is a very common.

Cheers, Chris.

P.S. Thx for the welcome chaps!

Chris1973 · 10-01-2005, 21:28

Hi all,

Hey presto!!!!!!!!!!!!, move on boot has done the biz and eradicated those irritating little varmints, result!!!. This is an essential piece of software for anybody. This wouldnt have been possible without ianathuth's recommendation, cheers mate I owe you one now!

God they had been bugging me for so long, I wonder what the next problem will be with my system

Many thanks again ianathuth.

Regards, Chris.