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i cannot delete a file because it is being used by another program???

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Enemy Down!

Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2002
Location
Chicago
i cannot delete a certain file that i downloaded from a peer to peer network. i ran it and saw it opened in a dos state and executed. something is utilizing the file and i cannot even delete the directory that it is in.

i tried deleting it in safe mode and through the dos prompt with no success!....:mad:
 
Have you tried using msconfig and disabling all at startup? Start|Run|msconfig|startup tab|disable all. Restart and try again. If that dosen't work grab a windows 9x boot disk and boot up into dos and delete file that way. If you need help with the procedure on how to do that just ask. Good luck!

Matt
 
this is for my laptop running win xp pro.

i will try the msconfig that you asked. but, i thought that msconfig would not be relevant since i booted in safe mode with no network support and still could not touch the file.
 
Enemy Down! said:
this is for my laptop running win xp pro.

i will try the msconfig that you asked. but, i thought that msconfig would not be relevant since i booted in safe mode with no network support and still could not touch the file.

Not sure if that is entirely correct. What I said is worth a try anyways, you never know. You may be right, who knows. Does your laptop have a disk drive?

Matt
 
no disk drive on the laptop.

but, i did what you suggested;

i went into startop and disabled all the services. i rebooted in safe mode and still could not delete the file. i went into msconfig again and checked the startup tab and noticed that ONE item was still checked even after i selected the disable all option previously. so i disabled the last item manually, rebooted in normal mode this time and was able to delete the directory that contained the file. so i am guessing that all is well now...

i did run updated versions of adaware and spybot and they could not pick up or delete that wierd file. i will run those two again and see what they pick up after i deleted the directory.
 
i just ran adaware and it detected SahAgent in the registry again. it detected this same file at the time i could not delete the file.
 
So everything works now? Your last post just confused me. Its detecting the registry entry, but not the program, am I correct? Great work!

Matt
 
Enemy Down! said:
i ran it and saw it opened in a dos state and executed. something is utilizing the file and i cannot even delete the directory that it is in.


this looks like a virus or a trojan in your computer. If i were you, i should scan my entire computer for any virus.

the reason why you can't delete it is because it is attached to one of windows system file.

if you have a backup, i strongly advise you to restore your computer before you open this file.

you can try to delete this file in recovery console or DOS. Good luck.
 
thanks for the help guys!

i ran a virus scan and it found and fixed 4 viruses!

i am assuming that all is well now and i will continue to monitor it to see if i notice and further strange behaivor.

edit; after further monitoring, i just want to clear something up about SahAgent. it turns out that it was a program that kept reloading itself even after i manually deleted it's traces from the registry. i had to disable all startup settings in msconfig's startup tab and go into safe mode in order to delete the bundle.exe file that was in docs and settings/"nam"/local/temp!


all is well now.

once again, thanks!:D

more info can be found here about that SahAgent adware junk
SahAgent adware junk!
 
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