A question about a file...

Hey guys how are ya??

I have no idea what the file is...... Have you ever seen an extention __- thats what it is 8 lines and then the extention "__-"

________.__-

Its 0 bytes and there is no file just that marker....


Pic 1: http://img.techpowerup.org/200525/capture.png
Pic 2: http://img.techpowerup.org/200525/capture3.png

The creation date was 9/28/15 11:59pm

How do you delete a pointer in the file system with no actual file to it?? (Maybe thats why I cant delete it,it cant find the file it supposedly goes to)

I have a program called DELETE DOCTOR and I have tried deleting it by UNC name which didnt work (No Universal name as there is no file) I havent tried scheduling it with that program to delete the file on reboot though. I dont know if that will work because I think it will try to do it from DOS and according to DOS that file doesnt exist (The pointer doesnt even show up in dos (If I goto the system directory that "________.__-" file doesnt show up))


Its very strange............. Any help??


Thank you and god bless ya all!!!!

 

You don't know what program created it?

Corrupted TOC (table of contents)? Did you run MS ScanDisk for errors?

 

One thing you can do is save every thing else on the drive ,then kill disk the hard drive . Then reload the operating system . You only do this if you know what you are doing.

 

Yes I ran scandisk but not a full scan just a basic scan.... The full scan takes over an hour (Surface scan,etc) but I suppose its worth a try....

Nope I have no idea what created it.... (uugghh)

 

Somebody is STILL using the 9x/ME series of Windows? Goddamn... Anyway, your problem is most likely because of Windows 9x filesystem fuckeroony. Win98/ME develop this issue, if they encounter a filename that contains characters the old system doesn't understand. The very aged Win98/ME series does not have support for some of the extended character sets that later versions like XP and Vista have. Therefore, if a file that contains exotic characters in the filename gets copied to a Win98/ME filesystem, the old Windows version does not know what to do with these illegal characters, and assumes filesystem corruption. Hence, you cannot delete or manipulate the offending file to prevent further damage. You must now find a way to rename the file somehow to only have characters that the old 98/ME system understands. Be careful though, C:\windows\system is a system folder that should not be manipulated lightly.

Error code 1026 could also mean low/insufficient disk space. How much free space do you have on this hard drive?

 

I have about 12GB free.......

I cant do anything with it,its like a ghost file......... (The file it goes to doesnt exist)


I dunno...... Its very strange.......

 

I think the question now is, how badly does this matter annoy you? Does the file consume excessive amounts of hard drive space? Does its presence interfere with operations? Sometimes it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie. I've encountered a similar issue once before myself. Back then I had to hex edit the affected disk with a disc sector editor to resolve the matter. It's something that I can't recommend lightly, and not at all if you're inexperienced, because editors that operate on the hexadecimal level will have the ability to damage the system beyond repair. Windows installs don't stay pristine, and this is particularly true with the 9x/ME-series. A friend of mine once told me that Win95-based systems should be nuked and re-installed every few years just to keep them in optimal working condition, and he wasn't completely wrong about that. That series does not have very good tools for self-maintenance.

So it comes down to risk vs.reward now. How much hassle are you willing to go trough for something that might not be a big deal at all?

 

Yea your right...... I hadnt thought of it for months............ Yes it is better sometimes!!

 

how to delete an undeletable file - Bing video

 

Just some points regarding that video:

1. OP's system, based on those screenshots, is Windows 9x/Millenium Edition -based. The "rmdir" command doesn't yet exist in that series as far as I remember. Instead, they have the old "deltree" command from the MS-DOS era.

2. You DO NOT want to deltree.exe your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM-folder, where the OP's offending file is located, as it is a system location and stores many files critical to the system's functionality. Deltree.exe nukes both the folder and the files therein. Not good.

 

Yes Im on 98se and I just tried 'rmdir' and it said REQUIRED PARAMETER MISSING then I typed rmdir/? and it says it removes a directory......... So I guess it does work.....

But yes I dont wanna remove the directoy just the pointer to a file that doesnt exist......