Is there a way to force-delete a file? I downloaded a game demo from Kazaa the other day since I could resume the large download when I wanted to...big mistake. It wasn't even a working demo but seemed to be an anonymous .exe. Well, my cousin ran the damned thing (I make a point of never running executables if I am not sure) and a small dos window blinked up then dissappeared. That's all it did and does. Problem is when I try to delete it it says cannot delete since It's being used by a program etc.

I've tried a clean boot of XP using system services only - still can't delete it. I'm now beginning to wonder if this is a malicious program of some form, I really shoulda went directly to the game site and downloaded from there. Any help and/or safeguard measures would be appreciated.

Have you already scanned your system for viruses?

Or perhaps ad-aware (free) can help.

Gee, got a weird message from the board:

"I was unable to unlink NonCGIPath/Forum10/forum_10.threads: Permission denied at CGIPath/ubb_lib_files.cgi line 657."

Yep tried scanning for spyware with spybot and ad-aware, I'm clean. No viruses found and I also scanned the program too - nothing.

Have you tried running windows in "Safe" mode and then deleting the EXE from there?

Suggestions:

Go to Start > Help and Support> and click System Restore. Follow the wizard to set your system back to an earlier date before the program was installed.

Download and install Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

Download and install Spybot http://security.kolla.de/news.php?lang=en

both of those will help clean your system.

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > Application Log and see if any strange programs were started.

Also you might try looking in Start > Control Panel > Add remove Programs and see if there are any wierd programs on the list.

I had a problem like that once. I got rid of the proram by simply focibly closing the program by means of Ctrl-Alt-Delete, then deleting the file. Oh, and emptying the recycle bin, just in case. Any help?

Try to delete it via dos. I actually made an .exe file (empty text file) and started it but couldn't delete after that, with the same reason as you. I started the computer in dos (without cd support with a boot disk) and deleted the file from there.

Like I said Poison, I tried the spyware progs and a clean boot whilst watching the taskmanager both to no avail. Philip, I've opened a command prompt window in XP and can see the file but what is the command to erase it...delete doesn't work?

A few thoughts...

1. Does the program show up in the task manager? If so, kill it from there (or just get task manager down to the minimum), which should make it no longer in use. Then delete it.

2. Do a search through the registry for the program. Remove it from there, or otherwise change the properties (point to different directory, etc.). Then you should be able to kill it next time, and then clean it out of the registry.

3. Isn't there an XP equivalent of Wincfg, that shows you what's being run at startup? Look for it there and kill it.

4. Make a startup disk, boot with it, and then move over to the c: drive to kill it.

5. Go to the hardware store and pick up a really strong magnet... okay, maybe not. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Give that a shot and see what happens.

Yeah I tried a clean boot of XP which basically means only system program will run in the background not even norton will come on when that's enabled. Still nothing. There are no odd programs running even on normal boot.

I have gotten as far as opening up a dos window but I don't know the command to delete the file itself (hoping someone will fill me in). Repairing the registry is another issue I know...