I have WindowsXP Pro SP1 (which I am starting to think was a huge mistake). I Ran a web stripper and it created a file on my desktop, named test.

When I try to delete the file I get : "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk." I get the same error trying to Rename, Copy or Move the folder. If I double click the folder I get a much longer error saying the file or location is unavailable.

I CAN create another file with the exact same name. Once I do that BOTH folders work and act like mirrored folders. Anything put into one, shows up in both, but I still cannot delete BOTH, one always remains.

I have tried removing the file from the console in safe mode, It tells me the file does not exist.

Help me KILL this folder!!!!!

Try the follow suggestions, not sure if they will work for you, but it's worth a try I guess.

If your harddrive (or the partition) was formatted as Fat32, just use a floppy bootdisk, boot into DOS, go into your desktop directory (e.g. "C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Desktop") and delete the file there.

But from your post, it seems it was formatted with NTFS. It also seems that you still can't delete the file when you boot with "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" option. In that case, I might suggest you boot with your WinXP CD. On the first prompt, press 'R' choose Repair Console. From there it is like DOS, just go into your desktop directory again and try deleting the file.

s0l1d

Yes it is NTFS. I tried the repair option and went to console from there already. The file is listed but windows acts like it doesn't exist when you try to do anything to it, including renaming and changing attribs.

Have you looked in \Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop?

I have seen this once before when installing Macromedia Homesite... a bug in the installer used to make a folder in the "Common Files" folder called "Macromedia " (note the space). Windows won't let you add a trailing space, but if one somehow gets created like that, Windows will freak out. This may or may not be the problem in your case, but I'll explain how that was fixed anyway...

First, open a command prompt in the folder containing the rogue folder. Type "dir /x", and you should see a line that looks like this:(Of course your folder name is different ;)) The way to go here is to rename the folder using its 8.3 name, and then you can deal with it like normal. So do a "ren STUPID~1 newname", and now you should be good to go.

Hope this helps...

sounds like possible file system corruption
try chkdsk at the command prompt

The console command dir /x and then rename file, then delete file worked!!!! Thank you very much~!

Cool, I'm glad that worked... it was a shot in the dark, but weird experiences like that tend to stick with you...