My recycle bin will not empty completely. I get a message that states that a file named: n with ~over it followed by _^_|: cannot be deleted. The path for the specified file cannot be found. When I put files in the recyle bin it asks if I want to delete x number of files where x equals the number of files shown plus one. But when I delete all of the displayed files, the recycle bin shows as containing zero files. However, the icon always shows the recycle bin as containing files. I booted using the boot disk and deleted the file named recycled. The problen persists. Can anyone tell me how to delete the obviously corrpupted file? How can I repair my recycle bin? Thank you.

Go into explore,turn on show all file's,go back to RB,hit f5,dump the file.

Thanks Sabre. I went to windows explorer, selected tools, options, view. I then choose to view all files and view hidden operating system files. I then opened the recycle bin, hit F5, and emptied the bin. I still get the message: Cannot delete N with ~ over it _^_|:. Cannot find specfied file path, etc. I also rebooted using my ME boot disk, selected minimal on the opening options list, I think it was the forth option. At the A prompt I entered C:\, then I entered deltree recycled. Neither proposed solution worked. Does anyone know where the recycle bin files are stored? Or how to delete this file manually? I can't even see the file. I tried searching for files with the corrupted files in them. The only file that I found was in C:\windows\user.dat. Could this be the culprit? Thank you for any help.

I have the exact same problem, my Recycle Bin Icon shows full, yet the bin is empty when I view it , however if I use "empty recycle bin" I get a message that there are 3 files ( yet they don't show) and as with you it goes on to say; Cannot delete _*___@O.@(: (that is the name of one of my three files). Cannot find specfied file path, etc. I have tried searching for this file on my hard disks without any luck. I do find mention of it in user.dat , but this file is "locked" and cannot be entered or edited. If you find an answer to this problem can you let me know...it's been driving me nuts for months now.

I had the same problem and finally fixed it. You need to go into the recycled folder for each of your hard drives and erase them with the dos commands. I have 2 so I went into both c:\recycled\ and d:\recycled\ and tried deltree (e.g., if I wanted to delete a folder named "bobs stuff" it would be identified by the dir comand as "bobstu~1", so I would type in "deltree bobstu~1". deltree which worked most of the time, except when a subdirector contained an invalid file name. Then I had to traverse the directories (e.g., "cd folder1"; "cd folder2"; ... etc.) until I found the folder conatining the file that could not be dealth with by deltree and enter "erase *.*". If there were no other invalid file names, then I would simply move back up one directory and use the rmdir command to delete that particular directory. Of course, deltree would work at the top level, IF all of the invalidly named files were erased. Good Luck!