deleting files.

[Guest]

i have an .avi file that refuses to be deleted. it was actually a download
that i cancelled. however, the full 1.36GB of this file was allocated. it
is unplayable. now i wish to deleted. but when i ask it to delete the whole
folder stalls, and goes into "not responding status"...what can i do?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Try deleting it from a command prompt after stopping the Windows shell.
Click start, type CMD. Right click the prompt and use 'run as
administrator'. Now, hit ctrl+shift+escape to open task manager. Kill the
explorer process on the processes tab, but leave task manager open. Switch
to the command prompt and navigate to the folder holding the .avi file and
try deleting (del) the file. To restart the shell, type explorer.exe into a
"new task" prompt from the applications tab of task manager.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[CoastalData]

You may need to do a chkdsk /f on that volume, too, which may require a
reboot, if it's the C drive.

 

[Dave Johnson]

It could be a COM surrogate problem - If you have a "COM surrogate has
stopped responding" dialog (or similar) then you won't be able to delete the
offending file without dismissing the dialog.

 

[Mirko D. Walter]

i have an .avi file that refuses to be deleted. it was actually a download
that i cancelled. however, the full 1.36GB of this file was allocated.
it
is unplayable. now i wish to deleted. but when i ask it to delete the
whole
folder stalls, and goes into "not responding status"...what can i do?

There is a tool "Process Explorer" from sysinternals, that lets you search a
handle by name. Just give it the filename at question and it should give you
an explorer-assign handle. Just kill the handle.