J
Joe
The following process was formulated on a computer running XP pro
before SP2 was applied to it. On a system with SP2, you may not be
able to disable "Windows File protection", however there is a way to
do it (you have to boot your computer with your windows CD and select
the recovery console and then replace a certain DLL with an older
version. Offhand I don't remember the details...)
Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc
Expand Administrative Templates
Expand System
Click on Windows File Protection
In the settings window, right-click on "Set Windows file protection
scanning"
Select properties
Select "Disable", then hit Apply.
At this point, you will still NOT be able to remove directories such
as
C:\Program Files\msn gaming zone
C:\Program Files\netmeeting
C:\Program Files\xerox
c:\program files\microsoft frontpage
So now continue as follows:
Start -> Search -> files or folders
All files and folders
sfcfiles.dll
Start search
You should find sfcfiles.dll in 2 places:
c:\windows\system32 and c:\windows\system32\dllcache (this one is
printed in blue)
The file sfcfiles.dll seems to contain a list of files and
sub-directories that are some-how protected. MSN gaming zone, for
example, is visible if you open it with notepad.
In the search window, right-click on the "blue" version of
sfcfiles.dll and select rename. Change the last letter to an
underscore (so now it's name is sfcfiles.dl_). It doesn't matter what
you re-name it to or how you change it. It just has to be changed.
Now right-click on the "black" version of sfcfiles.dll (the one
located in C:\windows\system32). Re-name it as well.
You might get a warning box that pops up and says:
Windows File Protection
Files that are required for Windows to run properly (bla bla bla).
Insert your Windows XP (bla bla).
Retry More Information Cancel
Hit Cancel. You'll get another irritating window. Hit yes.
At this point, you'll have to re-start your computer. Before you do,
go back and search again for sfcfiles.dll. The search should return
NO results.
Once your computer has re-started, go to your c:\programs directory
and try to change the properties for the above sub-directories (say,
the gaming zone, for example). Note that be default it is set to
read-only. You can change it (remove the "read-only" setting).
Select ok. Then have another look at the properties. The read-only
setting will return. Doesn't matter.
Go and delete the entire directory. Do it for netmeeting, xerox,
frontpage, gaming zone. They WILL disappear. Completely. And they
won't come back.
Go empty your recycle bin. (Since I'm running Norton recycle bin I
empty both the deleted files and protected files). Those pesky
directories won't come back.
Or will they?
Well, they will - once you rename sfcfiles.dl_ back to sfcfiles.dll.
But only the directories will come back. The files that were once in
them will not come back.
One thing I discovered after deleting the above directories (and all
their files) was that upon the next startup, XP complained about a
missing file (msgsc.dll). I think this file is related to IM (instant
messaging) - which shouldn't have been running (on my PC) anyways. I
ran REGEDIT and looked for msgsc.dll and killed a registry key
associated with it. I never got that error message again.
Also, don't try to edit sfcfiles.dll. I replaced all occurances of
"Microsoft Zone" With "Microsoft Bone" and upon the next re-boot I had
a system that wouldn't start (but that's easily fixed if you slave
your "broken" drive to another computer running XP or Win 2k and
restore the file).
There is no mention of SFCFILES in the registry. It shows up in a few
..ini files.
What I don't know is
1) Is SFCFILES.DLL really needed for "normal" windows functioning, and
2) Will an older version still try to protect the above pesky
directories.
------------------
It turns out that if you delete the files in the Netmeeting folder,
then every time you perform a windows-update you will constantly be
told that the following (critical) update is required:
Security Update for Windows XP (KB835732)
Download size: 284 KB
Even if you've already applied that update (circa May / 04) it will
keep coming back. If you download and install it, windows-update will
tell you that the installation was successful, but upon your next
windows-update check it will come back and tell you that it's
available.
I've confirmed that the following files must be in the Netmeeting
directory to prevent the above-mentioned behavior regarding KB835732:
callcont.dll
mst120.dll
nmcom.dll
(all with date-stamps of 3/29/2004)
....
before SP2 was applied to it. On a system with SP2, you may not be
able to disable "Windows File protection", however there is a way to
do it (you have to boot your computer with your windows CD and select
the recovery console and then replace a certain DLL with an older
version. Offhand I don't remember the details...)
Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc
Expand Administrative Templates
Expand System
Click on Windows File Protection
In the settings window, right-click on "Set Windows file protection
scanning"
Select properties
Select "Disable", then hit Apply.
At this point, you will still NOT be able to remove directories such
as
C:\Program Files\msn gaming zone
C:\Program Files\netmeeting
C:\Program Files\xerox
c:\program files\microsoft frontpage
So now continue as follows:
Start -> Search -> files or folders
All files and folders
sfcfiles.dll
Start search
You should find sfcfiles.dll in 2 places:
c:\windows\system32 and c:\windows\system32\dllcache (this one is
printed in blue)
The file sfcfiles.dll seems to contain a list of files and
sub-directories that are some-how protected. MSN gaming zone, for
example, is visible if you open it with notepad.
In the search window, right-click on the "blue" version of
sfcfiles.dll and select rename. Change the last letter to an
underscore (so now it's name is sfcfiles.dl_). It doesn't matter what
you re-name it to or how you change it. It just has to be changed.
Now right-click on the "black" version of sfcfiles.dll (the one
located in C:\windows\system32). Re-name it as well.
You might get a warning box that pops up and says:
Windows File Protection
Files that are required for Windows to run properly (bla bla bla).
Insert your Windows XP (bla bla).
Retry More Information Cancel
Hit Cancel. You'll get another irritating window. Hit yes.
At this point, you'll have to re-start your computer. Before you do,
go back and search again for sfcfiles.dll. The search should return
NO results.
Once your computer has re-started, go to your c:\programs directory
and try to change the properties for the above sub-directories (say,
the gaming zone, for example). Note that be default it is set to
read-only. You can change it (remove the "read-only" setting).
Select ok. Then have another look at the properties. The read-only
setting will return. Doesn't matter.
Go and delete the entire directory. Do it for netmeeting, xerox,
frontpage, gaming zone. They WILL disappear. Completely. And they
won't come back.
Go empty your recycle bin. (Since I'm running Norton recycle bin I
empty both the deleted files and protected files). Those pesky
directories won't come back.
Or will they?
Well, they will - once you rename sfcfiles.dl_ back to sfcfiles.dll.
But only the directories will come back. The files that were once in
them will not come back.
One thing I discovered after deleting the above directories (and all
their files) was that upon the next startup, XP complained about a
missing file (msgsc.dll). I think this file is related to IM (instant
messaging) - which shouldn't have been running (on my PC) anyways. I
ran REGEDIT and looked for msgsc.dll and killed a registry key
associated with it. I never got that error message again.
Also, don't try to edit sfcfiles.dll. I replaced all occurances of
"Microsoft Zone" With "Microsoft Bone" and upon the next re-boot I had
a system that wouldn't start (but that's easily fixed if you slave
your "broken" drive to another computer running XP or Win 2k and
restore the file).
There is no mention of SFCFILES in the registry. It shows up in a few
..ini files.
What I don't know is
1) Is SFCFILES.DLL really needed for "normal" windows functioning, and
2) Will an older version still try to protect the above pesky
directories.
------------------
It turns out that if you delete the files in the Netmeeting folder,
then every time you perform a windows-update you will constantly be
told that the following (critical) update is required:
Security Update for Windows XP (KB835732)
Download size: 284 KB
Even if you've already applied that update (circa May / 04) it will
keep coming back. If you download and install it, windows-update will
tell you that the installation was successful, but upon your next
windows-update check it will come back and tell you that it's
available.
I've confirmed that the following files must be in the Netmeeting
directory to prevent the above-mentioned behavior regarding KB835732:
callcont.dll
mst120.dll
nmcom.dll
(all with date-stamps of 3/29/2004)
....