Help Deleting A File
 

Greetings All,
I am in desperate need of some expert advice. I downloaded, from Kazaa, an episode of Space Above and Beyond (Pearly) and now I can't delete it. It says that its in use by another program and can't be deleted. It's not being used by another program that I know of. The system task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) under the processes tab isn't running anything that like suspicious. How can I get rid of this program? Please help! Thanks.

ah good old windows issues.

If you are familiar with the dos prompt, do it there. Go to that directory and delete it manually.

Which OS are you running?

I am running XP sp 1 and no I am sorry I am not at all familiar with the dos prompt. Suggestions?

try deleting it from the command prompt with del "filename"
make sure no explorer windows are open on it

or left click another file then right cick the file you want to delete and select delete from the popup menu


doing this usually cures the problem with the preview for good ;)

Start/Run/Regedit
-HKEY CLASSES ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler.

Delete the "Default" key.

good advice, but be careful with the registry if you are new too it.

The best way is till the command prompt for me to tell you, but if you are not familiar with consoles then it can be hard.

Here's a quick run down though. Windows like most operating systems is a hierarchy of files of folders. Just remember that.

Go to start, and then choose run.

Type command in the run box.

This should bring up something that probably says

"C:\docu*********" (the *** being what ever said text)

Type CD\

This will bring you to your root directory

now here's the important part...find out where on your computer your file is located. You will now go there with the command line.

For example let's say it's in the kazaa folder under program files, you can type

cd program files (cd stands for change directory) then
cd kazaa , then
cd downloads (if this is how your directorys are setup.

now do a "Dir" in that said directory, and see if you file is there.

next is the "Del" command. Be carefule with this. You can simple just type

"Del filename.*"

You do not have to type the full filename. Because it's kazaa it's probably a bunch of crappy numbers or something if it's not a complete download. If it is a download just type like the first 5~6 characters and then a *.* and that will erase anything with that name.

for example movi*.* will erase anything with the word movi in the front.


This is a little complicated, but I can tell you this..if you know command prompt you = elite.

I'm thinking that if you downloaded it from kazaa, and kazaa is still running in the background while you are trying to delete it that maybe you are sharing the file. If you are sharing the file it is also likely that someone is downloading the file from you at the same time that you are deleting it. Just something for you to check out. And if all else fails, reboot and try deleting the file before starting any programs.

What does it mean that I don't have a SystemsFileAssocations tab? I go from System.FieldAcessException to System.FlagsAttribute? It doesn't even give me the option to change anything? I am going to try the dos prompt but I would like to why I can't change the reg.

It worked!!!!!! I am elite!!!! Thanks to you both for all of your help. Much appreciated.

i had the same problem with windows xp.. and no it wasn't shared or anything

this is most commonly an issue when the filename excedes 110 characters. Windows has a system flag that determines an longer filename to be unix based for shared machine purposes and write protects the file in the system shell.
The only way to consistently work around this is in "real dos", as in boot to dos and delete from the promt.

There was actually a registry fix for this very problem that I found from VCD help. I'll have a dig around to see if I can find the link and post it....

Here it is... http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/userguides/100406.php

Incidentally a nifty way to delete that file without mucking about in DOS is to try and delete it from the Kazaa program itself. Don't ask me why but it just seems to work...

Often, the folder window you have open has a thumbnail preview of the file on the left. This will always make the file difficult/impossible to delete. This applies to JPEGs, AVIs, etc.