Windows XP problem

[towert7]

Hello, i was fooling around (as all problems start).

I created a new text file on my desktop, and changed the name to hi.exe (and i clicked yes ... it was ok to change the file extension).

Then by accident, i hit the enter key again after the confirm window to change its extension... and i guess it ran it... a .exe with 0bytes.

Then i went into the properities and changed its icon file.... and cliked OK. At this point it made a shortcut to the program..... with the new icon... and the program itself did not get the new icon i selected. So i deleted the shortcut.

I then tried to delete the program... hi.exe and it comes up with the error message
"Cannot delete hi: It is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.


Ive tried everything i can think of... changing the data with a hex editor, going into safe mode, and deleting it by my account. Please note, i can't delete it with the administrator account, because its in another user's desktop file, which is also an admin... so i don't have access.

I can't move the file.. i can't rename it, i can't overwrite it with another hi.exe file.... ive tried a norton wipe wizzard, and it could'nt delete it.


Does anyone have a clue as to how I might delete this file?

~Thanks

[4b5eN+EE]

its a virus that YOU created!.......your computer will blow up in 3...2....1....BOOM


jk...i dunno what to say..thats weird :confused:

[towert7]

Ok, here's another strange thing that just happened.

I tried moving another file (also called hi.exe) onto the desktop... and it complained.

But, i just tried to copy that same file onto the desktop, and it took. Now i have a hi.exe file on my desktop, but this time instead of 1byte in size, now its 450kB in size... Now its a FileZilla program (the FTP client). But i still can't delete it.... something is still using it. I get the same error message.

This is so strange.

[arkamw]

I've had success in the past using BartPE or something that is outside of the windows environment to delete these types of files. Unless your user files are encrypted, you should be able to navigate to the folder and delete it.

Also, you may want to just end task on explorer and then use task manager to find the file and delete it (a little more tricky but not as time consuming).

There is a program out there called WhoLockMe (http://www.dr-hoiby.com/WhoLockMe/) that will tell you what process has locked a particular file from being accessed.

Cheers.

[hulksterjoe]

why not just boot into safe mode and kill it or use an old 98 boot disk and wipe it from dos

[j0k3r]

I don' know why you can't delete the file, but irregardless of whether the other person is an admin, if you are both admins, you can do whatever you want to the other person's profile.

That being said, kill explorer.exe, open a command window from the Task Manager and delete the file from there.

[towert7]

Wow, you can not belive how thankful i am!

Yea, that program WhoLockMe worked good. It had about 50 handles pointing to explorer.

So i ended explorer, started the command prompt, and was able to delete it with no trouble.

Strange, but oh well.

On a side note... for some reason, when i was on as the Administrator account, i could not access another admin's desktop folder at all (this was in safe mode). Oh well, no biggy.

~Thanks a bunch