FileASSASSIN erroneously reports successful deletion

[whatmeworry?]

I have a strange "hidden" 0-byte file that appeared today when I saved a photo from someone's Meetup profile (I know the person). Along with the saved photo, there was a 0-byte file with the same filename as the photo. I tried deleting it, but I couldn't. I was able to delete the photo, but not the 0-byte file. When I tried, I got a message that said: "Cannot delete file. Cannot read from the source file or disk." I then tried to use FileASSASSIN. It asked me whether I was sure I wanted to delete the file, I said yes, and then it told me that the file had been successfully deleted. But it's still there. I tried it again, with the same result. Shouldn't FileASSASSIN have reported that it couldn't delete the file rather than claim that it had? And is there any way to get rid of the file, which bears the file attributes -ahs-?

[exile360]

Greetings and welcome.

I've seen this a few times myself. I think the second file is some kind of placeholder or index file that gets created by videos and pictures sometimes. To get the stubborn bugger to go away please try the standalone version of FileASSASSIN instead of the one built into MBAM, as it offers more options: FileASSASSIN.zip

Save the zip file to your desktop and unzip it there. Run FileASSASSIN and select the Use delete on Windows reboot functions and see if that kills the file for you.

If not, then give the other options a shot and see if it removes it. If all of that fails let me know.

[whatmeworry?]

If all of that fails let me know.

Thanks very much for your response. I downloaded the standalone version of FileASSASSIN and tried the various options, starting with the one you suggested. Unfortunately, each attempt produced the same error message: "The file you have specified does not exist or is not visible to FileASSASSIN. Please select another file."

If need be, I guess I'll just have to live with this file, but I'd love to get rid of it. If you have any further suggestions, I'd welcome them.

[exile360]

Hello again. I'm sorry that it didn't work, but I've still got a couple of ideas.

First off, if you right click the file can you use the "cut" command on it and paste it to your desktop? If so, do it, then try right clicking it and deleting it from the desktop once it's moved, and if that doesn't delete it, try simply dragging it to the recycle bin (sounds too good to be true, but believe it or not I've seen it work).

If that fails, then try running check disc, if you're not sure how please refer to this Microsoft article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

Also, do you still have the picture file somewhere that you deleted originally (like in your recycle bin)? If so, don't remove it yet.

[whatmeworry?]

Hi. Thanks for your further suggestions. I had already tried the first and third without success before sending my message to this forum. I can't right-click on the file--when I right-click, nothing happens. And though I had gotten rid of the photo, I downloaded another copy, but that didn't help, either. I was not able to delete the 0-byte file. When I tried to delete it, all that got deleted was the photo.

After reading your message, I ran chkdsk from My Computer and selected "Automatically fix file system errors." I scheduled the disk check to occur upon reboot and then rebooted. The disk check took place, but the 0-byte file is still there! Here's what was reported in the Event Log:

Checking file system on C:

The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.

Windows will now check the disk.

Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.

Cleaning up 627 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 627 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 627 unused security descriptors.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...

Usn Journal verification completed.

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the

master file table (MFT) bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.

156248158 KB total disk space.

41679436 KB in 139201 files.

49744 KB in 8319 indexes.

0 KB in bad sectors.

298478 KB in use by the system.

65536 KB occupied by the log file.

114220500 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.

39062039 total allocation units on disk.

28555125 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:

b0 52 03 00 4b 40 02 00 22 7a 03 00 00 00 00 00 .R..K@.."z......

95 0c 00 00 02 00 00 00 5d 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........].......

ee 1e 0d 04 00 00 00 00 f4 14 44 44 00 00 00 00 ..........DD....

dc b6 86 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e8 13 b2 51 00 00 00 00 ...........Q....

99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 a0 38 07 00 c1 1f 02 00 ..6......8......

00 00 00 00 00 30 e9 ef 09 00 00 00 7f 20 00 00 .....0....... ..

Windows has finished checking your disk.

Please wait while your computer restarts.

-----------------------------------------------

I really do appreciate all your help. However, it looks as if I'm going to have to learn how to live with this [expletive deleted] 0-byte file.

[exile360]

I'm not done yet if you still want to try another option. For this one I'll need the location of the file. If you still want to try let me know.

[whatmeworry?]

I'm not done yet if you still want to try another option. For this one I'll need the location of the file. If you still want to try let me know.

Thanks very much! If you're willing, I'm willing. The file is in C:\download .

[whatmeworry?]

One more thing--I don't know whether you need this information, but I'm running Windows XP Pro with SP2.

Again, many thanks.

[exile360]

I'm guessing this was a folder you created specifically for the picture you were downloading correct?

Are there any other files in the folder with it?

Anyway, this is the option I came up with. Before you do this you need to make sure there are no other files in that folder that you want to keep because it will PERMANENTLY delete them.

Copy the following text into notepad and before you save it select Save as type... "All files" and name it delete.bat and save the file to your desktop

del /f /q "C:\download\*.*"

Once you've saved it and you've removed any files from that directory that you want to keep, just double click it. Let me know if the file is gone now.

[whatmeworry?]

I created the bat file and saved it on my desktop. However, before I run it, I want to make certain that after I run it, I'll be able to again create a directory called download. That was NOT created simply for downloading that photograph; it's the folder I created ages ago as the default for downloading just about everything, so I always (well, almost always) know where to look. I've got all kinds of things in there. I temporarily moved them to a different directory, but once I've run the bat file, I want to recreate the download directory and move everything back. That will also save me some grief with registry entries, I suspect. There's no reason I won't be able to recreate such a directory, right?

[exile360]

No worries, it won't delete the folder itself, just all the files that are inside of it when you run the .bat file, so good call on temporarily relocating all the other files.

[whatmeworry?]

Well, I've struck out again. I ran the delete.bat file, and it did delete the one other file I left in the C:\download directory, but the 0-byte file is still there. I also tried using Directory Toolkit to change the file attributes, but I wasn't able to do that, either.

Someone should patent this file--it obviously has discovered the secret of immortal life!

[exile360]

OK, that's just annoying. For this next attempt, make sure you don't have anything in that folder you want to keep (this one will delete the folder). You will be able to recreate the folder once it's gone though, so you'll still have the same place to store downloaded files. Create a .bat file as before and name this one folder.bat:

RD /S /Q C:\download

Let me know how it goes, I've got my fingers crossed for you .

[whatmeworry?]

Let me know how it goes, I've got my fingers crossed for you .

The crossed fingers worked!! Your folder.bat script wiped out the directory, including the 0-byte file.

THANK YOU!!!

[exile360]

Excellent. I was getting desperate, I only had about 2 or 3 more possible fixes But I'm glad that one did it, because after that, they get a lot more complicated.

I'm glad to be of service. Good luck and safe surfing

[5Leepy!]

Hello... This is the only place on the Web where I could find potential help to fix the problem I have. Like Whatmeworry? I have a file that has no extension on it and FileASSASSIN will not delete it. I created the delete.bat file as you suggested in the post but it did not work. I don't believe I should run the folder.bat because the stupid file is on my desktop. I can not move it, I can't rename it, nothing. After researching, I even figured out how to get everything off my desktop except that one file. I even hid the recycle bin. Still couldn't delete it. Any suggestions? What would happen if I created a desktop.bat file?

Thanks for any help!!

5Leepy!