"Error Deleting File" Returns From Hell

[ashay]

Hi,
you may have seen the infamous Error deleting file message in Win XP.
I know one can delete the file from Cmd by end-tasking Explorer.exe.

However, my problem is compounded because Windows becomes slowwww ..as soon as I clik Ok on the Error deleting file dialog box.. its unusable untill I end-task explorer.exe and restart it again. slodown occurs even if i right click on such a file

Now it would be great if I just wanted to delete these files.. but I dont want to ! They simply wont open in any program.(they open fine in other peoples comps).

Downloaded files (mostly .avi) are fovourite target for windows .... they seem to be selected at random. Such files deleted and then copied again from LAN exibit the same behaviour again ! They wont behave even after a re-install fo windows ! And they ceratainly wont open in any program. (opening avi file in Winamp dosent cause slowdown, but it wont run).

Is this some new version of Windows File Protection I have not heard of ..only thing missing is microsoft sending two goons to gaurd the file..

Any ideas ?

Ashay

 

[Indomidable]

You may not have the Codec's loaded to see these files. So, windows will try to find them.
Also, if your trying to delete a file you've tried to open unsucessfully it's possible it's still got that file locked to the app.
So, you would need to either reboot then delete or ctrl+alt+del (system/task manager) close explorer.exe or whatever prog. that failed to open the file. wmp.exe, winamp.exe, etc. Reboot may be the easiest suggestion.

Check this thread on Codecs

 

[muzikool]

I have encountered this problem many times, so I have learned some pretty good workarounds and tricks. I can't give you an exact answer as to why certain files slow down your system, but I can help you try to avoid this problem most of the time. Here are my suggestions:

1) Be sure you have all the needed codecs (XVID, DIVX, etc.), and good ones at that. There are some pretty obscure ones that you might need from time to time. Check out Digital-Digest.

2) Download VirtualDub if you don't have it. I recommend the (free) program to anyone who downloads video often. It will play incomplete AVI files, and let you know exactly what codec is needed if you don't have it installed. VirtualDub

3) Deleting video files from the command prompt is one good solution that you have been using, but it's a pain to close explorer everytime. I have found that I can almost always delete a video file by using the 'Open' dialog box from a program, without the computer slowing down when selecting the file. For example, open VirtualDub, go to File-->Open and browse to the folder your video is in. Select it and hit the delete key. This works almost every time for me, and it's more convenient than shutting down explorer.

These are all the suggestions I can think of right now. Let me know if I can help you out in some other way, or give me feedback if you try my suggestions. I've definitely had a lot of headaches with those video files myself, so I'm glad to try and relieve the pain for others.