Greetings Bill, et. al.--
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Kinsey <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 1998 8:45 AM
Subject: [PCSOFT] Cannot delete files


One of my hard drives has some "garbage" files and directories that
cannot be deleted.  Message is "cannot find selected file/directory"
Drive will not reformat and Norton Disk Doctor will not do anything.
Use attribute to try and unread, but that did not work.  Does anyone
know of anyway to get rid of these?
--------------------------

This does not give us a lot to go on, but . . . If you are using Win95, try
clicking Start -> Programs -> MSDOS prompt to open a DOS window. Type the
command attrib -h -s -r <filename of one of the garbage files (you may have
to provide the full path to it if it is not in the c:\windows folder)>. This
will remove the hidden, system, and read only  attributes. (I assume that
you are quite certain the 'garbage files' are not necessary system files.)
If you didn't receive a message like 'not resetting attributes on
<filename>, you should have no trouble deleting it (them). If all the
garbage files are in the same folder and have similar extensions, you may be
able to save many steps by using the usual DOS wildcards (*, ?) to attrib
more than one file at a time.

These same steps apply whether you use Win95, Win3.1, Win3.11 or DOS. I've
found that the attributes will not always be reset when they are checked (or
unchecked) in the GUI.

HTH,

Paul A. Shippert [log in to unmask] Library/Media Specialist
            Margaret Brent Middle School
Phone: 301-884-4635                 FAX: 301-884-8937
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"If con is the opposite of pro, then is congress the opposite of progress?"
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Thanks
Bill