Unable to delete certain temporary internet files

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Guest

I have run across a situation on several computers that I haven't been able
to fix. Each system is running Windows XP. If you go into Documents and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp, there is a directory called Temporary
Internet Files under the Temp directory (in addition to the normal Temporary
Internet Files directory). When I try to delete that directory, I get the
following error: "Error Deleting File or Folder. Cannot delete [file name]:
cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and
file name". If I open the Temporary Internet Files directory, I can delete
most of the files. The file(s) that won't delete and that are causing the
error message always have very long filenames with a lot of equal signs. I
tried deleting these files in safe mode, but got the same message. I've even
put the hard drive into another system as a slave, booted to safe mode and
tried deleting them that way, but again I get the same error. Each time that
this situation occurs it is causing problems with certain web sites. In this
case, my client can access a stock trading site, but can't log in. In the
past, I have had to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP (due to
time constraints). However, I feel that there must be a way to get rid of
these files without formatting the drive. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
 
Have you tried logging on with another account with admin. privileges and
doing the delete from there?
See this site for more info: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

If no joy.....

This may be caused by spyware/malware that's gotten installed on
your system. Use Ad-Aware, MSAS and/or Spybot Search & Destroy to remove
it.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware (beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Good sites on how to install and use Spybot -
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/index.html
http://tomcoyote.com/SPYBOT/index1.php

Also download a winsock repair tool, to have just in case cleaning up
anything found breaks it -

Winsock repair tools:
LSPFix- all versions of Windows http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.zip
Winsock2 Fix- Win98, ME
http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/internetaccess/winsock2fix.html
LavaSoft- all versions of Windows-
http://digital-solutions.co.uk/lavasoft/whndnfix.zip

More information here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ - runs a little script when loading page to
check for common parasites

If no joy, in IE go to Tools...Internet Options...Advanced tab, Browsing
section, uncheck "Enable third-party browser extensions", click Apply, click
Okay, reboot. If that solves your problem, then more troubleshooting is
needed to find out exactly which program, or Browser Helper Object (BHO) is
causing this problem. You don't want to leave it at that, as some BHOs are
useful or necessary - like Adobe Acrobat for reading .pdf files or an
essential component of Norton AV. Get BHODemon -
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm - read all about BHOs.
Disable all items, and then gradually replace one or two at a time to narrow
down the culprit.

Or if you have IE 6 SP-2 you can do this within the browser:
How to manage Internet Explorer add-ons in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;883256

If all the above fails, then the problem could be something new that the
spyware cleaners above don't have in their databases yet. In that case....
HijackThis direct download:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip
Tutorial on how to use HijackThis:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
Then post it's output log to the forum here for analysis and feedback by the
parasite experts:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
Or the other HijackThis Logs forums listed here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.html

Or try this program to get some of the most nasty malware:
CWShredder direct download:
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip

An alternate resource for all of this and more:
http://www.aumha.org/secure.htm

--

Jon R. Kennedy
Charlotte, NC, USA
(e-mail address removed)

Kim said:
I have run across a situation on several computers that I haven't been able
to fix. Each system is running Windows XP. If you go into Documents and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp, there is a directory called Temporary
Internet Files under the Temp directory (in addition to the normal
Temporary
Internet Files directory). When I try to delete that directory, I get the
following error: "Error Deleting File or Folder. Cannot delete [file
name]:
cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and
file name". If I open the Temporary Internet Files directory, I can delete
most of the files. The file(s) that won't delete and that are causing the
error message always have very long filenames with a lot of equal signs. I
tried deleting these files in safe mode, but got the same message. I've
even
put the hard drive into another system as a slave, booted to safe mode and
tried deleting them that way, but again I get the same error. Each time
that
this situation occurs it is causing problems with certain web sites. In
this
case, my client can access a stock trading site, but can't log in. In the
past, I have had to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP (due to
time constraints). However, I feel that there must be a way to get rid of
these files without formatting the drive. Any suggestions? Thanks in
advance.
Click to expand...
 
Jon,

Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I should have mentioned that I am a
computer tech and had already tried many of the things you mentioned. I had
already run Adaware, Spybot, Norton Anti-virus and Hijack This. I did take
your suggestions of running Winsock Fix and Coolwebshredder and of disabling
third-party browser extensions. I also tried deleting the directory from the
administrator account. In addition, I have reset Internet options and
uninstalled a damaged copy of Norton Personal Firewall. Nothing has worked so
far and I've really run out of ideas. Thanks again for your help.

Jon Kennedy said:
Have you tried logging on with another account with admin. privileges and
doing the delete from there?
See this site for more info: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

If no joy.....

This may be caused by spyware/malware that's gotten installed on
your system. Use Ad-Aware, MSAS and/or Spybot Search & Destroy to remove
it.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware (beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Good sites on how to install and use Spybot -
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/index.html
http://tomcoyote.com/SPYBOT/index1.php

Also download a winsock repair tool, to have just in case cleaning up
anything found breaks it -

Winsock repair tools:
LSPFix- all versions of Windows http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.zip
Winsock2 Fix- Win98, ME
http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/internetaccess/winsock2fix.html
LavaSoft- all versions of Windows-
http://digital-solutions.co.uk/lavasoft/whndnfix.zip

More information here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ - runs a little script when loading page to
check for common parasites

If no joy, in IE go to Tools...Internet Options...Advanced tab, Browsing
section, uncheck "Enable third-party browser extensions", click Apply, click
Okay, reboot. If that solves your problem, then more troubleshooting is
needed to find out exactly which program, or Browser Helper Object (BHO) is
causing this problem. You don't want to leave it at that, as some BHOs are
useful or necessary - like Adobe Acrobat for reading .pdf files or an
essential component of Norton AV. Get BHODemon -
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm - read all about BHOs.
Disable all items, and then gradually replace one or two at a time to narrow
down the culprit.

Or if you have IE 6 SP-2 you can do this within the browser:
How to manage Internet Explorer add-ons in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;883256

If all the above fails, then the problem could be something new that the
spyware cleaners above don't have in their databases yet. In that case....
HijackThis direct download:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip
Tutorial on how to use HijackThis:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
Then post it's output log to the forum here for analysis and feedback by the
parasite experts:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
Or the other HijackThis Logs forums listed here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.html

Or try this program to get some of the most nasty malware:
CWShredder direct download:
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip

An alternate resource for all of this and more:
http://www.aumha.org/secure.htm

--

Jon R. Kennedy
Charlotte, NC, USA
(e-mail address removed)

Kim said:
I have run across a situation on several computers that I haven't been able
to fix. Each system is running Windows XP. If you go into Documents and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp, there is a directory called Temporary
Internet Files under the Temp directory (in addition to the normal
Temporary
Internet Files directory). When I try to delete that directory, I get the
following error: "Error Deleting File or Folder. Cannot delete [file
name]:
cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and
file name". If I open the Temporary Internet Files directory, I can delete
most of the files. The file(s) that won't delete and that are causing the
error message always have very long filenames with a lot of equal signs. I
tried deleting these files in safe mode, but got the same message. I've
even
put the hard drive into another system as a slave, booted to safe mode and
tried deleting them that way, but again I get the same error. Each time
that
this situation occurs it is causing problems with certain web sites. In
this
case, my client can access a stock trading site, but can't log in. In the
past, I have had to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP (due to
time constraints). However, I feel that there must be a way to get rid of
these files without formatting the drive. Any suggestions? Thanks in
advance.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Donny,

I tried the program, but it didn't get rid of the 3 files. Thanks for the
suggestion.

Kim


Donny Broome said:
Give this free program a try:
http://browsertools.net/IE-Privacy-Keeper/


--
------------------------------------------
Donny Broome
http://www.broomeman.com/tech/
------------------------------------------


Kim said:
I have run across a situation on several computers that I haven't been able
to fix. Each system is running Windows XP. If you go into Documents and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp, there is a directory called Temporary
Internet Files under the Temp directory (in addition to the normal
Temporary
Internet Files directory). When I try to delete that directory, I get the
following error: "Error Deleting File or Folder. Cannot delete [file
name]:
cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and
file name". If I open the Temporary Internet Files directory, I can delete
most of the files. The file(s) that won't delete and that are causing the
error message always have very long filenames with a lot of equal signs. I
tried deleting these files in safe mode, but got the same message. I've
even
put the hard drive into another system as a slave, booted to safe mode and
tried deleting them that way, but again I get the same error. Each time
that
this situation occurs it is causing problems with certain web sites. In
this
case, my client can access a stock trading site, but can't log in. In the
past, I have had to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP (due to
time constraints). However, I feel that there must be a way to get rid of
these files without formatting the drive. Any suggestions? Thanks in
advance.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If you've deleted the whole folder from an admin. account and they keep
coming back, I would suspect some sort of malware. Did you post your HJT
log to a forum for experts to analyze?
 
Jon,

After working on it further this afternoon, I discovered that the user
profile is corrupt. Under the current user profile, I can't log in to any
secure web site. I was able to log in to secure web sites under the
administrator profile in safe mode, but not under the "owner" profile. In
addition, I have discovered some bad sectors on the hard drive, which I am in
the process of repairing. The client previously had a utility installed that
may have had some impact on corrupting the user profile. Now that I know what
has caused the problem, I'll be able to correct it. Thanks for all your help.
 
Thanks for posting back with the update, Kim. Good luck in getting it all
back in order!
 
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