Help to remove strange files.

[Leo]

I suddenly have a couple directories with many sub-
directories appear on my hard drive that I am unable to
remove. They contain strange names and the sub
directories contain some names like com9 and lpt3. I
have taken care of the FTP connection to prevent any more
from being created, but I still can not remove the
directories I now have on my drive. I have tried
removing them via CMD using dir /x as well as using wild
cards with the rmdir command and made sure the attributes
were set properly. So far no help. I really want to
clear these files and have tried everything I know short
of formatting and rebuilding. Does anyone know how to
remove these directories with command or even some kind
of utility? Below is an example of one of the
directories I am talking about.

C:\8383~1\ \ \com9\BTFRulez \lpt1\ScanneD \com9\by
\lpt3\Josifly\com3\TaGGeD \aux\by \com1\TWC\com6\ \with
Neo1907's PuB-tAgGeR \com7\uPPed \lpt1\BY \com7
\Schnider\lpt1

 

[Rich Barry]

Leo,
Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open
programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and
End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command
Prompt window and change to the directory the undeletable file is located
in. At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go
back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart
the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.

 

[James R. Twine]

Um, after actually reading the OP's post, it can be clearly seen that
the directory path mentioned contains reserved identifiers like "aux" and
"com1".

These usually cannot be deleted using Explorer or the "del" command
under the Command Prompt. Most of the time, even getting into them is
difficult.

There are several documented means to delete these kinds of
directories/files, each with their own levels of complexity and success. I
recently designed an application that greatly simplifies this particular
task: "Delete FXP Files". It can be downloaded from:
http://www.jrtwine.com/Products/DelFXPFiles

An recent article about it can be found at:
http://isp-planet.com/equipment/2003/tagged.html

Try it. It will work. You will not be disappointed.

Peace!

[Now, before someone incorrectly says that this is nothing more than a
sales attempt, note that you do not have to register the application in
order to get the deletion functionality.]

[Get Delete FXP Files 1.0 Now! http://www.jrtwine.com/Products/DelFXPFiles]
[Remove the obvious to reply via email.]
-=- James R. Twine, MCP, ([email protected])
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS d- s+:+ a30 C++++$ UL+++>++++ P+ t+++ 5++ X+++ tv
b++ DI++ G++ h e(++) r++ W++ N+++ w++(+++) M-- PS+
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[James R. Twine]

[...] Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes
tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. [...]

Also, the correct way to have Explorer exit is:

1: Raise the "Shut Down Windows" dialog (select "Shut Down..." from the
start menu)
2: Hold down Ctrl+Shift+Alt and press the *Cancel* button.

Explorer will then exit cleanly.

Peace!

[Get Delete FXP Files 1.0 Now! http://www.jrtwine.com/Products/DelFXPFiles]
[Remove the obvious to reply via email.]
-=- James R. Twine, MCP, ([email protected])
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS d- s+:+ a30 C++++$ UL+++>++++ P+ t+++ 5++ X+++ tv
b++ DI++ G++ h e(++) r++ W++ N+++ w++(+++) M-- PS+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------