Phantom folders haunt my C drive

XP Professional SP3

I opened explorer one day and noticed some folders that I didn't create and I knew weren't system folders in the C drive. I tried to delete them. No success. I tried several deletion programs which included remove on boot. No success.

I don't believe that they cause or symptoms of a more serious problem.

I have tried to remove them in safe mode.

I believe that they resulted from a malfunction in a bookmark synchronization program. I don't use it anymore.

They irk me. They mock me. They state by their existence that I cannot control my computer. I consider doing a repair install, but hope for a less drastic solution. I have done repair installs in the past and decided it's better just to do a reinstall and suffer the configuration trial to where I like the system.

I have C drive and D drive partitions; The C drive is system and programs and the D drive is the My Documents folder. Would a repair install be problematic? If the solution requires work in the registry, I'm experienced. I backup the registry with ERUNT.

These are the phantom folders:

ALABAMA
Personal
Computer
Device
FORUM
POEM
REFERENCE
SECURITY

 

I would just boot into DOS and delete them from there. You can use any recovery program that lets you boot into DOS, through a bootCD. If you have BartPE recovery cd you can boot into it and try deleting your folders from there.

 

It sounds to me like whatever program put them there wasn't fully uninstalled. Check your Windows folder for any file related to the program (programs have a real bad habit of leaving .dll files and such behind even when the program seems to be completely removed). I've got folders too that I've no clue what left them there or if the program is still installed. They take up zero space so I err on the side of caution and ignore them.

 

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Unlocker solved the problem. When I ran it, it said that these were not locked but it could delete them. It did. Best delete program I've used. I checked it out through Google and it has a good rep.

Thanks for the suggestions. I also made a couple of boot cds for the future. Even the suggestions that didn't work were positive.

 

Mind you there's more than a few ways of dealing with residuals whether Bill controls your puter or not.