Need to COMPLETELY delete User Account

G

Guest

Hi everyone. I need to completely remove a User Account of mine I just
deleted. I had an old JEFFREY account (admin)(Windows XP w/ SP2 was
registered under this one) which I deleted through the User Accounts and I
have created a new JEFFREY account (admin)for myself. But now when I go to
C:/Documents and Settings/ Users/ there is a Jeffrey folder (left over from
old account) and a Jeffrey.Home<Numbers> (my new one). The question is how do
I completely removed this old Jeffrey account from my computer (mainly in the
Docs and Settings)? I deleted everything inside the folder, but when I try to
delete the old account folder itself (Jeffrey), it says access denied because
some file "<Bunch of sympbols> can't be found! Any ideas on how to completely
clean this out, like the old account never existed? I just don't like the
clutter on my system and I would like it completely gone! Thanks in advance!
 
G

Guest

because of the user switching capability in windows xp, the referenced
account is still probably "hooked" in RAM and is preventing you from
deleteing it. reboot your PC and log in with your new account and then
manually delete the folder.

if that fails, create a new account (temp) and give it local administrator
rights. reboot, log-in as that and then delete.

logging off and back on will leave the previous user hooked in RAM this
prevents you from totally deleting the account.
 
G

Guest

Unfortunately neither of those methods have worked. The JEFFREY folder (the
same one in C:\Documents and Settings\" says it contains 93 MB, Files:
NTUSER.DAT but inside the folder is empty. When I try to delete the folder,
it says "Error Deleting File or Folder - Cannot delete "<Symbols>": cannot
find the specified folder. Make sure you specify the correct path and file
name." I assume the NTUSER.DAT must be the problem. Any ideas here? Thanks!!
=)
 
G

Guest

Make sure you have the folder view options set to show hidden files and
folders and uncheck hide extensions for known file types and uncheck hide
protected operating system files(recommended). to do this open windows
Explorer > under top line menu in Tools, then Folder options and click on the
View tab you will see those options.

If after making those changes, you should see all that is within that folder.
delete each file found one at a time till you find the one that won't.

once you find the file Right click and look at the properties and see who
has rights to it. Set the properties to allow deletion... you may also have
to take ownership.

after that see if you can delete it.

If you still can't i would do a scan disk / checkdisk for bad file
allocation tables. a defrag may also be helpful. then...

IF you still can't delete it then more drastic measures may be required.
you may have to open a command prompt and navigate to the folder and delete
it the old fashioned way using the del command on the file and a Rd command
on the folder. if this fails, take the hard drive out and slave it into
another PC as secondary, then delete it from there. I have used a USB to IDE
adapter to do it as well. YOu can find them cheap on newegg.
 
G

Guest

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help on this problem. I really
appreciate your input and I finally found out the problem. The Sims 2 uses a
Securom copyright protection which left 2 "Dead" files under my old User
Account. I went through and deleted all of the subfolders and hidden
subfolders under the account. I still don't know exactly what I did but I
moved the 2 dead files over to another securom app data folder, delte them
there and I was able to get through it and start a fresh new user account.
Thank you again for all of your help everyone!!!
Jeff
 
C

Cocco Bill

You can solve this problem just deleting this "value" in registry.Start
regedit end then find Ctrl-F "?" and serch it all to the end by presing F3
repetedly
 

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