I recently downloaded what I thought was a picture of a 2000 Ford GT Mustang from WinMX and come to find out, it is not that at all. This JPEG file has a very embarrasing name to it that I do not wish to say what it is at this time but the DOS name is CONMYP~1 JPG. I have tried and tried to delete this file. The error message states as follows: Cannot delete file: The file name you specified is invalid or too long. Specify a different file name. So Iv'e tried deleting it from DOS at reboot and tried to rename it through Dos as well and unsuccesfull, I ve tried the deltree at the prompt and it gives me "file not found". This is on my desktop and I do not know why it is saying this. Thanks for any help.

Have you tried booting into safe mode and deleting the file that way?

Can you move the file? If so then create a new folder "test" or some other short name, move the file into it and then use deltree in DOS to remove it or even from within Windows try deleting the folder (and all of it's contents). Bryan

"... deleting it from DOS at reboot and tried to rename it through Dos as well and unsuccesfull, I ve tried the deltree at the prompt and it gives me "file not found".." Does the above mean you've restarted in dos mode, or are you booting to RAW DOS? When you restart in dos mode it's just that, dos MODE. Windows is still in control and your not in REAL dos. Have you tried tapping or holding the Ctrl or F8 key at boot to get the MS start menu? When you do this and choose Command prompt only, you're in real dos. Deltree should delete the file in this mode. ie; (You'll end up at the C:\> prompt) cd windows\desktop deltree/y CONMYP~1 JPG

Reply one: Have you tried booting into safe mode and deleting the file that way? Yes, unfortunately I get the same error message in safe mode. Reply Two:Can you move the file? If so then create a new folder "test" or some other short name, move the file into it and then use deltree in DOS to remove it or even from within Windows try deleting the folder (and all of it's contents). I tried this and no dice, same error message. Reply Three:cd windows\desktop deltree/y CONMYP~1 JPG Now this one was interesting. I booted to RAW DOS by tapping F8 when I would boot up my pc and go to "Command Prompt Only" in the windows start up menu. I entered as follows at the C:\> prompt: cd windows C:\>Windows cd desktop C:\>Windows\Desktop deltree/y CONMYP~1 and this is what it did when I hit enter C:\>Windows\Desktop as if it maybe took it, I rebooted an found it was still there. I hope I am not confusing anyone as I am a beginner at this stuff. Any more help IS SEVERLY APPRECIATED!!

You have to be fairly exact in DOS del CONMYP~1.JPG (or deltree, I suppose - case doesn't matter, but the name & extension does) 'wildcards' can come in handy also del con*.jpg (deletes ALL JPGs beginning with 'con' in that folder) del con*.* (deletes all files beginning with 'con') Mix & match as desired - deltree may be more appropriate - it's the heavy duty deleter. You may wish to leave off the 'y' - that suppresses confirmation, and you can't immediately tell if it worked. You can check if the file still exists by using the DIR command. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?