i was trying to download an episode of myster science theatre 3000 off i2hub. the file was "completed" by the program, but it's a lie. something fucked up in the download and the file is an incomplete .avi (class factory error or whatever when trying to run it).

the problem is i can't delete the file. whenever i try to move rename or delete the file i get an error "the file is being used by another program". at first i figured i2hub was still accessing the file. so i restarted and it still won't work. so then i just tried to delete the file in safe mode, and it still says that another program is using the file. what gives??!

Ive had run ins with these phantom files. Real bastards they are. You just gotta wait it out. One day youll go to delete it and then it will go. I had to wait a month and a half to delete the SOB. You could also try going into the ini files and deleting shit. That worked once for me. Good luck.

you tried deleting it from a command prompt, right?

i've encountered quite a few of these from seek. they've all been movie files. when starting the computer, they keep sucking up more & more ram until you can't do anything. why? i haven't figured it out yet. delete from command prompt didn't work for me, but it's worth a try. anyway...

what has worked for me...
first try to kill it from task manager
boot to & delete from safe mode
boot to & delete from dos
and one machine i even had to boot from a cd & delete

Im pretty sure its a windows bug. It happend all the time for me when I used to use windows, whether the file was complete or not. If I had a collection of avi's chances are a few of them would always "be in use" and refuse to delete.

Deleting it with the command prompt always did the trick.

the command prompt said it was being used by another <i>process</i>. i could kill it from the task manager, but i don't know what's using the file. i've had this problem before with direct connect, but usually after a restart i could delete teh file. maybe i'll just wait 'er out

It may be virus-related. I've gotten those before, they can masquerade as other filetypes.

the reason it sucks up resources is because windows tries to get info (preview, size, bitrate, etc) from the files any time you get anywhere near them. for incomplete or damaged avi's, it freaks out. if you cant delete it after a fresh reboot into safe mode at a command prompt, its either a virus thing or a filesystem thing.

Try:

kill, explorer.exe
start command prompt, delete file
start explorer.exe

use this program

http://www.softizer.com/show_product/ut ... utilities/

windsor

or the easiest solution of all:

create a file with an identical filename and extension, send it to the directory with the corrupt file, click yes to overwrite existing file, and viola no more problem.

I had the same problem several times last semester.

This will remove it, it's a encryption program with a feature to erase any file. Doesn't matter which file, this program was meant to remove even key system files.

http://web.umr.edu/~sms458/Install%20PC-Encrypt.exe

I was going to say that, but you beat me to it. I've had the same problem over the last year until i figured that out.

Make sure that if it's an mpeg that you want to get rid of, you rename another mpeg to tranfer to the directory with the problematic file. Naming a word file "whatever.mpeg" won't work.

no... the file is a legit .avi file. i downloaded it off the i2hub.




this COULD have been true. my download folder has always been viewed as "details". which of course tries to look up filesize, date modified and type.

however, i'm guessing by chance, yesterday when i tried to delete the file it left. so hooooray!!