New free opensource tool to delete in-use files

[Wayne - DiamondCS]

"How do i delete this file when it says that it's in use?" ... this is a good question and Ive seen it pop up a lot on forums recently, but strangely enough there don't seem to be any tools available to specifically do just that

Usually if you close down all active programs the file should become free and then you'll be able to delete it, but this isn't always the case, especially when it comes to non-conventional programs such as system processes, service processes, trojans, and so on. Microsoft recommends just one method for deleting such files, and this article can be found here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/fileio/base/movefileex.asp) (Platform SDK - MoveFileEx).

Anyway I've just put together a little tool based on the guidelines specified in that article, all effort has been made to ensure technical accuracy, and it supports Windows 95/98/ME/2K/XP/2003. Its free, easy to use, tiny (the exe is only 2560 bytes), and it's open source - feel free to use and modify the source code as you please.

See here (http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=dellater) for more information, and the download (all 3 kilobytes of it) :)

[Bethrezen]

hi

good job i been lookin for a tool to get rid of files that are in use

a good example would be index.dat just one question how do i use it ???

becaues theres no help file ?

[spy1]

Instructions were on the d/l page, Bethrezen (I think in the readme, too):

"1. Run dellater.exe <filename>
2. Reboot (whenever you like).
That's all that's required. After rebooting and logging in you'll be able to see that the file you specified is no longer there."

HTH Pete

Wayne - I darn near missed this neat little app! Can we have it in BIG, BOLD LETTERS next time you come out with something this neat?

[Jooske]

New free opensource tool to delete in-use files



Special SPY1-Size

[Jooske]

Check back often in the DCS forums at www.diamondcs.com.au/forum in General and Free tools areas where they're announced first.
Generally.

[Antarctica]

Thanks so much Wayne for
that nice tool. :)

[spy1]

lol@Jooske! That's more like it! ;D Pete

[Bethrezen]

Hi all

I know what it says on the download page but what I want to know is how do you mark a file for deletion on restart coz there don't seem to be a way to mark files for deletion

[LowWaterMark]

Well, it isn't really a "mark for deletion", in that it's not a special file system based flag or anything like that which deletes the file. (On one OS I've used, there is actually a "marked for deletion" flag in the file system, if set, once the last open channel to a file closes, the file is then deleted.)

This appears to be a special function within Windows used to handle such things by doing the operation very early during the next reboot of the system, at a point early enough that nothing should be accessing or locking the file. I'm sure Wayne could give more details as to the technology involved, but from the microsoft article, it looks like it should work almost all the time...

Here's an image showing how I'd use the program if I needed to. Also, it shows one of the registry keys that gets set by the function being called just to give an idea of what it's doing...

[Vietnam Vet]

Hi,

Need a little guidance here. Let me start off by saying that I have never used MS-DOS in my life, so please keep that in mind.

I haven't really had a need to date for a tool like this, but recommended it to someone over at the Lavasoft forums who is having an extremely hard time deleting a file off of their system. Apparently, they do not understand how to use DelLater, and since no one else has tried to explain it to them, I felt obligated. Problem with that is, after downloading the tool, I can't make it work.

Using LowWaterMark's example, I finally got it to give me the file marked for deletion message, but upon rebooting, the file is still happily sitting there on my hard drive.

Two questions:
1 Does the DelLater.exe have to reside in the same folder as the file you are trying to delete? That is the only way I was able to get the file marked for deletion message.
2 Any clue as to what I am doing wrong, since the file does not delete, even after getting this message?

On 98SE here. Remember, no experience here, so don't assume any detail is too obvious. Thanks in advance.

By the way, sitting here in Virginia waiting for that hurricane to come through here in the very near future, so if I don't respond to any replies right away, please understand. Thanks again.