I have two 0 byte files in C:\Windows which cannot be deleted/renamed/moved. It always says 'Cannot delete/rename/move file: File system error (1026).' Those files are with filenames consist of all special characters: "____-FÆF.-__" and "_¥0--S__.¥%H". And under DOS the files are only viewable using dir /as, and the "_" are displayed as other chr$. I can't type those CHR$ from the keyboard so can't try to delete them from DOS.

ScanDisk and NU's Disk Doctor both don't detect anything wrong. How do I get rid of them?

Thanks!!

Hi KKW, hi everyone,

From Dos:
- go to the right directory
- type DIR /as to see what the System-marked programs are; type DIR /as>\DIRAS.txt (a list of these programs in a text file)
- type DIR ????-F?F.-* replacing every untypable character with ?
if only your first file is displayed, type DEL[F3] to overwrite DIR and copy what follows in keyboard buffer
- similarly, type DIR ?¥0--S??.¥%H
then, if only your second file is displayed, DEL[F3]
(would be good to copy both files to a floppy before deleting if you're not sure).

HTH

Have a good day,
Gérard from Paris, France

Sigh. Still failed. :(

If I type dir ????-F?F.-* /as, it'd be the only file listed. If I type attrib ????-F?F.-* -s, it'd say 'Access denied'.

By the way, what's that 'DIR /as>\DIRAS.txt (a list of these programs in a text file)' meant?

Hi KKW, hi everyone,

I'm sorry it didn't work yet!

>By the way, what's that 'DIR /as>\DIRAS.txt
>(a list of these programs in a text file)'
>meant?
You know about DIR /as which displays the system-marked files ('System' attribute)...
DIR /as>\DIRAS.txt does the same, the list being written into a file... located at the root, the name of which being DIRAS.txt.
This is named "Redirection".
As a matter of fact, >path\file.ext after a Dos command, writes into a file what would be sent to the screen... try PING /?>C:\PING.TXT and edit PING.TXT
You could also use >PRN to send to the parralel printer or >COM1 to send to... you understand...
You could also use [input.txt (replacing [ by 'lower than' not displayed on Computing.Net forums) to get what would be typed by the operator, from a file
You could also use DIR | FIND "sys" to pass the result of DIR to the FIND function ie to filter the list the files in the directory in order to keep only those which have sys in their line (name, extension, size, etc.)

HTH

Have a good day,
Gérard from Paris, France

Go to the directory the files are in and use attrib to remove to read only aspects of the files type attrib/? to see the switches you need it will be something like attrib -r -s providing they are the only hidden files you could use wildcards to delete them del ah might work

Hi KKW, hi everyone,

>If I type dir ????-F?F.-* /as, it'd be the only file listed. If I type attrib ????-F?F.-* -s, it'd say 'Access denied'.

Can you copy the files into another directory? (in order to make tests)
What about ATTRIB -s *.* ? (after having noted the name of all the system-marked files)
What about
DIR ????-F?F.-* then DEL [F3] ?

Have a good day,
Gérard from Paris, France

.tmp files MAY be needed during an installation of a software or for 'undo' of actions called from a program.
They NEED NOT be deleted, although in most cases they CAN be safely deleted.

It is a common feature to observe several 0 byte .tmp files in windows folder created by IE for script debugging.
To disable this,
open IE-->Tools-->Internet Options-->Advanced-->
now tick (select) 'disable script debugging' and restart the PC.
hopefully, the .tmp files must have disappeared.
post back and fill us in on what happened

If you right click the files and select Properties is the DOS name any more helpful?

I assume you are "shutting down" to DOS to do all this (sorry but I felt I must check this probably obvious point).

Derek

Hi Derek, Kailas, KKW,

OK Derek... I thought I had written to reboot in true Dos to delete these files but you are right... I didn't! ;-)

Thanks,
Have a good day,
Gérard from Paris, France

Hi everyone,

I need to type dir ????-F?F.-* /as, dir ????-F?F.-* alone would return a 'File not found'. DEL [F3] (minus the /as) won't help.

I can't copy the files. DOS lists out the file but says '0 file(s) copied'.

And they're not .tmp files.

I do 'Restart' and press [F8] to choose 'Command prompt only'. Does that consider true DOS?

Any software utility can help?

Thanks.