Deleting files completely?
 

I have these annoying files in my "Program Files" that are obviously spyware but I can't delete them. I try and it gives me a message saying i can't delete it because it's being used by another program. any way to over-ride this and just delete the things? annoying as hell.

Note: I've run Ad-aware and Spybot but can't get rid of them.

Have you tried running the ad-aware and spybot in safe mode? It could be that something in your startup is preventing thier removal. Also make sure that you are running them with "admin" rights, or the programs might not be able to delete them.

also, go though all the processes that are running, and forcefully stop any ones that seem suspicsious. The probable reason for why you can't delete what you want to delete, is because some process is using those files at the moment.

Right click on your task-bar, and click Task Manager. Go to the Processes tab, and take a look. Google search any processes that seem suspicious, and end any ones that you deem inapporpirate. Then try to delete those files again.

Have you tried rebooting your machine?
I'm just joking. Don't reboot your machine. It's unnecessary...

Are the files you're trying to delete executables? What's their extension? If these files are spyware, as you suspect, then they're probably executables and running when you tried to delete them. Launch Task Manager, switch to the Processes tab and, under the Image Name column, look for the filenames you're trying to delete. Right click on those filenames and select End Process. That should end those processes and allow you to delete their executable files.

If they're not executables then you're unlikely to find them in Task Manager. In that case, these files are simply being used by the spyware (again, if we're to believe you spyware theory) and you simply need to stop those processes before delete the files. Come back here and I'll instruct you on how to do that...

you can always reboot into DOS mode and delete whatever you want. that guarantees whatever may be associated with the file you're trying to get rid of is not active.

the files are labeled "xerox" and "microsoft frontpage". Both are lowercase. i just formatted the other day too. it's not stuff i installed, i can assure you that.

If you're running XP, I'd recommend using a restore point. It did wonders for me and basically removed everything installed prior to that day.

But I've also heard files get rearranged so you'd need to ask someone more knowledgable on the subject than me.

what others said. safe mode. also, you might need to stop a service before you can delete the program. run services.msc to review your running services.