At some stage or another we've all had the message, "File cannot be Deleted Moved or Renamed". This is usually because the file is in use by some process within Windows, and it is not normally a very good idea to try and kill running processes unless you are very sure what you are doing, but sometimes it may be a suspected Virus, Malware or a part thereof remaining on your computer after your AntiVirus has dealt with the main threat. If you are a tidy freak this will irk you no end.
I recently had such an experience where my AntiVirus detected suspicious activity which it suspected was a backdoor/dropper being installed on my hard drive. Yes,... I sometimes download things that maybe I should not. My story perhaps illustrates why this can be a risky practice.
The active files (perfs.exe, sxwand.sys, ceswxfst.dll etc)had been quarantined but kept reactivating every time I rebooted which suggested that there was another as yet undetected file that was reinstalling them. To cut a long story short, I noticed a rather unusual icon had appeared on my desktop with a filesize of 0 bytes. Nothing I did would remove it or show any details about it other than its name and size, all of the normal processes came back with the message "File cannot be located",... very odd. I tried all of the usual tricks such as deleting IconCache.dll, I used, "Delete on Boot", nothing worked. After spending an hour or so Googling for answers on two or three successive days I found a free utility that did the job with absolutely no fuss. It is called simply "Unlocker 1.8.7.exe" and is available at:
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/P.S. I dunno if that weird file was the problem or not, but the "suspicious" activity has stopped and everything else appears to be working properly with no more cryptic messages from my Anti Virus.
WARNING: Do not use utility this unless you are either:
(1) Very sure that the file is not a vital part of your Operating System, or
(2) You are willing and able to repair any problems if something goes badly wrong.Collecting "Come in Handy" utilities is one of my weaknesses. You just never know when you may need them
Play carefully now!!
