File association

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard
  • Start date Start date
R

Richard

I was wondering if there is a program/tool to find out, what program a given
file is associated with? For instance, I have a strange new file in my temp
folder that I can't delete, it says "Cannot delete because it is being used
by a program..."etc...
but I don't know what program. (I have tested it, virus scanned it, AdAware,
SpyBot, etc.) It would be cool if it were possible to click on a file and
find out what it is for or what program it belongs to. Any ideas? (besides
right click-properties)
 
Richard said:
I was wondering if there is a program/tool to find out, what program
a given file is associated with? For instance, I have a strange new
file in my temp folder that I can't delete, it says "Cannot delete
because it is being used by a program..."etc...
but I don't know what program. (I have tested it, virus scanned it,
AdAware, SpyBot, etc.) It would be cool if it were possible to click
on a file and find out what it is for or what program it belongs to.
Any ideas? (besides right click-properties)
Click to expand...

File association has nothing to do with a process opening and keeping a
file handle. Have you tried exiting and relogging in? Have you tried
rebooting into Safe Mode? You could try using the Recovery Console to
delete the file. For now, try the following:

- Open Task Manager and leave it open.
- Use Start -> Run to run "cmd.exe". This opens a DOS shell.
- Kill all instances of explorer.exe list in the Processes panel of Task
Manager.
- The Windows GUI disappears (because explorer.exe is used for it).
- In the DOS shell, navigate to the folder and delete the file.
- Use Task Manager's File menu to run "explorer.exe".
- The Windows GUI will reappear.

You can use the OH.exe utility (Open Handle) included in the Microsoft
Resource Kit (ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/ResKit/win2000/). Or use
SysInternal's 'handle' utility. You can use those to see what process
has an open handle on the file.
 
Hi

Try deleting the file from a command prompt. If that doesn't work, try
renaming the file, then deleting it.
 
I deleted it in safe mode but it came back as soon as I came back on in
normal mode. My main question is, is there a way to find out what it is
associated with? (or any unknown file for a program)
 
I have tried renaming it but of course I get the same "...being used by
another program..." plus, I deleted it in safe mode but it comes back in
normal mode.
 
What's the filename?

Joe


Richard said:
I have tried renaming it but of course I get the same "...being used by
another program..." plus, I deleted it in safe mode but it comes back in
normal mode.
Click to expand...
 
Well assoc won't help you. You are recording a performance log. See Administrative Tools - Performance. It may be a program rather than a user collecting the data in which case it won;t appear in Performance.
 
Google for Perfdata returned some possible useful info
Performance Data
.... Plugin-specific performance data (if available) can be
obtained by using
the $PERFDATA$ macro. See below for more information on ...
nagios.sourceforge.net/docs/1_0/perfdata.html - 7k -
Cached - Similar pages

Displaying Object, Instance, and Counter Names [Base]
.... PPERF_OBJECT_TYPE FirstObject( PPERF_DATA_BLOCK
PerfData ) { return( (PPERF_OBJECT_TYPE ...
msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/perfmon/
base/displaying_object_instance_and_counter_names.asp -
22k - Cached - Similar pages

There may be more, these were the first two hits


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.




| The file extension is .dat, it is called
Perflib_Perfdata_54c
in message
| | > Go to http://www.filext.com/index.php. Type in the file
extension and hit
| > search!
| >
| > --
| >
| > Regards:
| >
| > Richard Urban
| >
| > aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
| >
| >
| > | > >I was wondering if there is a program/tool to find out,
what program a
| > >given
| > > file is associated with? For instance, I have a
strange new file in my
| > > temp
| > > folder that I can't delete, it says "Cannot delete
because it is being
| > > used
| > > by a program..."etc...
| > > but I don't know what program. (I have tested it,
virus scanned it,
| > > AdAware,
| > > SpyBot, etc.) It would be cool if it were possible to
click on a file
| and
| > > find out what it is for or what program it belongs to.
Any ideas?
| (besides
| > > right click-properties)
| > >
| > >
| >
| >
|
|
 
Richard said:
I deleted it in safe mode but it came back as soon as I came back on
in normal mode. My main question is, is there a way to find out what
it is associated with? (or any unknown file for a program)
Click to expand...

Well, then something ELSE is establishing the presence of the suspect
file. I already mentioned in the last paragraph some utilities to see
who has a handle to the file. If you boot in Safe mode, you are able to
delete it, and then reboot into *SAFE* mode again, does the file show up
again? If it only shows up again when you boot into normal mode then
you are running something on startup that is recreating the file. As
mentioned, use msconfig to disable all start programs, boot into Safe
mode, delete the file, reboot into normal mode (but which now will not
load any of the startup programs). Did the file reappear? If not then
one of the programs listed in msconfig's Startup list is the culprit.
 
Richard said:
The file extension is .dat, it is called Perflib_Perfdata_54c
Click to expand...

The use the OH or FileMon utilities already mentioned to see who has a
handle on those files. Could be you started Perfmon and have it
recording system performance. Could be you have a program loaded on
Windows startup that uses this performance data (I have Clipmate and it
opens a Perf*.dat file).
 
The only new program I have installed lately is..Adobe Photoshope
Elements2.0, Executive Software "DisKeeper9.0" I'm thinking the Diskeeper is
it?
 
Richard said:
The only new program I have installed lately is..Adobe Photoshope
Elements2.0, Executive Software "DisKeeper9.0" I'm thinking the Diskeeper is
it?
Click to expand...

Diskeeper makes a great deal of sense. Try it.

Joe
 
How do I use the Systernals "Handle" program, the instructions that are on
the download page don't make sense to me, it says ...

Installation
You run Handle by typing "handle". You must have administrative privilge to
run Handle.
Handle works on Windows 9x/Me and Windows NT and higher.
Usage
Handle is targetted at searching for open file references, so if you do not
specify any command-line parameters it will list the values of all the
handles in the system that refer to open files and the names of the files.
It also takes several parameters that modify this behavior.


usage: handle [-a] [-p process] [name]


-a Dump information about all types of handles, not just those that
refer to files. Other types include ports, Registry keys, synchronization
primitives, threads, and processes.


-p process Instead of examining all the handles in the system, this
parameter narrows Handle For Windows NT's scan to those processes that begin
with the name process. Thus:

handle -p exp

would dump the open files for all processes that start with "exp",
which would include Explorer.


name This parameter is present so that you can direct Handle to
search for references to an object with a particular name. For example, if
you wanted to know which process (if any) has "c:\winnt\system32" open you
could type:

handle winnt\system

The name match is case-insensitive and the fragment specified can be
anywhere in the paths you are interested in

Where do I type Handle? I tried clicking the handle.exe and it runs a list
of something in CMD I tried opening Run>CMD, and typed handle but it does
nothing, I hit enter it says 'Handle is not a proper..."

I know nothing about using cmd prompt.
 
Richard said:
How do I use the Systernals "Handle" program, the instructions that are on
the download page don't make sense to me, it says ...

Installation
You run Handle by typing "handle". You must have administrative privilge to
run Handle.
Handle works on Windows 9x/Me and Windows NT and higher.
Usage
Handle is targetted at searching for open file references, so if you do not
specify any command-line parameters it will list the values of all the
handles in the system that refer to open files and the names of the files.
It also takes several parameters that modify this behavior.


usage: handle [-a] [-p process] [name]


-a Dump information about all types of handles, not just those that
refer to files. Other types include ports, Registry keys, synchronization
primitives, threads, and processes.


-p process Instead of examining all the handles in the system, this
parameter narrows Handle For Windows NT's scan to those processes that begin
with the name process. Thus:

handle -p exp

would dump the open files for all processes that start with "exp",
which would include Explorer.


name This parameter is present so that you can direct Handle to
search for references to an object with a particular name. For example, if
you wanted to know which process (if any) has "c:\winnt\system32" open you
could type:

handle winnt\system

The name match is case-insensitive and the fragment specified can be
anywhere in the paths you are interested in

Where do I type Handle? I tried clicking the handle.exe and it runs a list
of something in CMD I tried opening Run>CMD, and typed handle but it does
nothing, I hit enter it says 'Handle is not a proper..."

I know nothing about using cmd prompt.
Click to expand...

Go one step further. Open run->type cmd-> type handle /?
You should now have a command window open with instructions on which
commands you should use to do what you want. Read them carefuly, take your
time and you should get through it. I don't think anyone is going to teach
you how to use command line utilities in this forum. Perhaps look on the
web for a tutorial.

Joe
 
Joe said:
Richard said:
How do I use the Systernals "Handle" program, the instructions that are on
the download page don't make sense to me, it says ...

Installation
You run Handle by typing "handle". You must have administrative privilge to
run Handle.
Handle works on Windows 9x/Me and Windows NT and higher.
Usage
Handle is targetted at searching for open file references, so if you do not
specify any command-line parameters it will list the values of all the
handles in the system that refer to open files and the names of the files.
It also takes several parameters that modify this behavior.


usage: handle [-a] [-p process] [name]


-a Dump information about all types of handles, not just those that
refer to files. Other types include ports, Registry keys, synchronization
primitives, threads, and processes.


-p process Instead of examining all the handles in the system, this
parameter narrows Handle For Windows NT's scan to those processes that begin
with the name process. Thus:

handle -p exp

would dump the open files for all processes that start with "exp",
which would include Explorer.


name This parameter is present so that you can direct Handle to
search for references to an object with a particular name. For example, if
you wanted to know which process (if any) has "c:\winnt\system32" open you
could type:

handle winnt\system

The name match is case-insensitive and the fragment specified
Click to expand...
can
be
anywhere in the paths you are interested in

Where do I type Handle? I tried clicking the handle.exe and it runs a list
of something in CMD I tried opening Run>CMD, and typed handle but it does
nothing, I hit enter it says 'Handle is not a proper..."

I know nothing about using cmd prompt.
Click to expand...

Go one step further. Open run->type cmd-> type handle /?
You should now have a command window open with instructions on which
commands you should use to do what you want. Read them carefuly, take your
time and you should get through it. I don't think anyone is going to teach
you how to use command line utilities in this forum. Perhaps look on the
web for a tutorial.

Joe
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm wrong, I thought it was a different forum. I'm going to see if I
can pull my foot out of my mouth.
Command line utilities are actually quite simple because they all have a
sequence in which they'll accept words on a command line. A general format
might be

command (options) (argument)

command is of course the command for the program, in your case handle
options are generally letters or words preceded by dashes (-) or slashes
(/). The command I showed you in my previous post shows you one way you can
use to get help for a given command. Often you can get the help by just
typing the commnand without anything else but usually in a command window
you type the command and the option /?
argument is the file, folder, program, etc that the work will be performed
on. In your case I believe it might be the file you're curious about.

To be able to run handle it should be in your path or you should explicitly
type the path to the executable. Take the handle program and put it in C:\
then go into the folder using the cd command. Then type handle and see what
happens.

commands you will likely need
cd :for this command two dots (..) takes you back a step, try cd /?
dir :this shows you what files and folders exist in your current
directory.

This is all I have time for right now but I hope that helps you.

Joe
 
You put the file where cmd can't find it. Drag handle from explorer to a cmd window (this does the typing for you incl the location of handle.
 
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