Undeletable file in Temporary Internet Files

[Aubs_UK]

Hi All,

Bit of a strange one this, unless it's a known thing. I've tried searching forums and got nothing on it.

Basically I've cleared all my Temporary Internet Files (IE6 SP1) except one file. This file doesn't not want to be moved. Windows says there is a file there, but if you try and delete it, the message says:

"Error Deleting File or Folder

Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

The file details from windows explorer give these details (see screenshot below):

- that's the full filename with extensions viewable

I've even gone into Safe Mode & DOS mode to try and remove it, but still get the same error message.

Is this just a corrupt file that won't budge or something more evil??

Cheers.

[spiritpyre]

try one of these programs or my "cheater method" described in that post.

[Yzöwl]

del "\\?\D:\Temp\Cache\User\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\I5U61P3B\@ "

<Edit>

Just as a little explanation, the message is not because the file is locked by another process etc., it is because there appears to be a trailing space in the file name.

</Edit>

Edited May 14, 2005 by Yzöwl

[XtremeMaC]

that happened to me once, flashget had created a folder like that (contains space) bc of my mistake maybe. i had written "downloads " for the downloads folder, and it wasn't deleteable.

i don't exactly remember what i did to recover that but it might have been check disk (chkdsk.exe)

but i'm not sure i might have formatted my hdd afterwards to get rid of that problem...

[Yzöwl]

For further information on my suggestion click here and read Cause 6: The file name includes an invalid name in the Win32 name space

[Aubs_UK]

Thanks for the suggestions.

For everyone's attention it's a FAT32 file system, I should have mentioned that at the start - hence I was able to go into DOS mode and run a few progs there. In DOS, the file can be seen, but if u run deltree.exe on the folder, it does nothing and leaves the folder and file in tact.

It's not a locked process issue - as that's not the error message, it's a problem reading off the disk. Personally I think it's a cross-linked file issue, although CHKDSK seems to find nothing.

I guess a format on that drive would sort it, but that's a bit drastic. I've now moved my temporary internet files folder location to another area and seems to be working fine. The old location just has the single folder in it, with the @ file in it.

Just wondered if the file itself was a potential spyware/malware issue? I've ran AVG, MSAS and Ad-aware SE 1.05 and everything is clean. Nothing appears to be abnormal as yet. Maybe just a glitch in the file system.

[Yzöwl]

Can you not just remove the directory, complete with file, or try removing @* or @? from a prompt?

If you are still having problems try this invalid file deleter, just download it where you want and run it, no install necessary.