system restore points gone

[JDogg]

I'm trying to do a system restore but all my restore points seem to have dissapeared. The last thing i did was install the xvid codec, and also i ran DivFix on a uncomplete movie i was downloading and now the i cannot delete it. i've tried restarting my computer in diagnostic mode but it still won't delete. it keeps saying that it is being used by another program, even after a restart. and after i try to delete the file my computer seems to get extremely slow. any help with this would be appreciated...

 

[Octopus]

get into the Safe Mode to delete it,also fire the task manager up..see what is running in the background.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

I lost my restore points after recovering from a serious error at startup. Thankfully I didn't need them.
As for the file refusing to delete try this>

Deleting files - Access Denied Error

Explorer.exe in XP has a bad habit of wanting to hang on to files, even when you have finished using them - therefore when you try to delete the file, XP will say "Access Denied".
This error occurs more often when working with media files - mp3, avi, mpeg etc.
TIP:
Close all open applications.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory with the offending files.
Then open the Task Manager and click on the Processes tab. select "explorer.exe" under Image Name. Click "End Process".
That will leave you with only the command prompt and the task manager running.
Now at the Command Prompt, its time to delete the file(s). Using the DEL command. Example c:>\movies\DEL movie.avi
Now the files are deleted, go to the task manager and click on the Applications tab. Click the "New Task" button. in the dialog, type explorer.exe and click OK.


For folders the command is 'rd'.

 

[JDogg]

thank alot for the help. worked great!