I was going through my documents, and deleting a bunch of crap I didn't need anymore earlier today, and had a couple of weird things happen...

First, it wouldn't let me delete a folder... It said "Access Denied" but I am the only user on the computer... The only thing I can think of is that the folder is shared... Maybe I had a "visiter"

Anyway, the really weird part.... I emptied the recycle bin, but it still had the full icon... So I opened it up, and nothing was in it... I made sure it wasn't a hidden file or anything... and it was completely empty... Then when I clicked "Empty Recycle Bin" again, it says "Are you sure you want to delete 'WINDOWS'" I was like.... no... so I closed out, and restarted...

After restarting, I was able to delete the other folder, and my recylce bin was normal!! What the heck?!?!? Any ideas?

wow!!! thats a messed up bug andy! i don't know what to say except maybe get a firewall? oh and keep avg updated too

Sounds like possibly some SpyWare. It really does some weird stuff.

Was it the Folder WINDOWS from the (C:) Drive. I had the same Problem. I went to Empty the Recycle Bin. Are you Sure you Want to Delete Windows? I clicked Yes. It wasn't the Windows Folder. Restarted the Computer. And It worked.

Yea, I keep AVG updated, and I do have SP2 with the firewall built in... I also run Spy-bot regularly, and I didn't see anything like that. I did have a virus the next time I scanned though!! It was a trojan, so maybe that was the cause?

Andy,

We are finding that you really need to be running two different spyware scanners to catch most of the buggers. We are using AdAware and SpyBot as a combo. It's also crucial to immunize with the latter.

--Alan

yeah I had the same thing I actually still have it on another computer actually 2 computers and one is offline so a good way I tried on one of my computer was I turned the online access off temporarily probably for about a day or two I turn it on and delted the folders as sonn as i could unfortunately a couple files were still there but it worked for my computer I dont know if it can work for your computer mine was an xp and i tried it on an hp (sucky a** computer) and after trying it on the hp it didnt delete completely but when you go to see how much memory it takes to run the folder it when automatically to 0.00 same with my xp I know i just kinda rambled on but try that if anything else doesnt work.

Please do not bump threads. Locked.

Grim... I didn't see anything wrong with that post... and I have re-opened the topic. Please PM me if you feel strongly that it should be closed, and I will consider your point.

no, it ok, i just locked it to prevent further bumping.

Well, I found a great solution to one of the problems (thanks to johkalhaups)

When you try to delete a file, and it says "access denied", or "file is in use" and you know its not, here is a nifty program to help!

Unlocker

All you have to do when it gives you that error is right click on the file (after in stalling the unlocker) and choose "Unlocker" Then, it will show you what program(s) is(are) accessing it, and you can "Unlock" the file, so you can delete it!!

Woohoo!! I highly recomend this program!

great, thanks for the program, will come in handy.

Depending on how long you have had Windows XP I would reccomend reformmatting. After being used for a long period of time, windows has a tendency to bug itself, and bog itself down. I would recommend to anyone to reformat and reinstall the Os atleast once a year.l

phhhhh now john is your favorite lol cool program I need to download it

** Unlocker has been added to the [Download Section]