How to find and delete a file in Windows XP or Vista?

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March 24th, 2007 by Brian

Please forgive me if you have already known about this. I put the instructions here because people are always asking.

  1. From Start –> Search, then click on “For Files and Folders…
  2. From “What do you want to search for?” list on the left, click on “All files and folders
  3. Type the filenames on the search box, and choose the “Local Hard Drives” (normally, it’s C: drive)
  4. Click on “Search“. That’s it!
Download SpyHunter Spyware Detection Utility to remove latest Trojan, Spyware and Malware.




102 Responses to “How to find and delete a file in Windows XP or Vista?”

  1. 1

    Cole Says

    So, you can delete them from here?

  2. 2

    John Says

    Ok when it doesn’t find the files in search THEN what?

  3. 3

    Brian Says

    John,

    I assumed that you were talking SpyLocked. In this case, you need to know that SpyLocked keeps changing over time so you need to look at the new “dll” that added to your machine. Just check the removal instructions and the comments, I believe it’s been mentioned how to detect and delete the infected new dll’s.

    Hope this helps. Good luck!

  4. 4

    Z Says

    I ended the process explorer.exe n’ del Ygjun.dll in the cmd prompt and it worked! the spylocked is completely out of my system! thanks (^_^)

  5. 5

    Maria Says

    I found 2 files- everything0 and execution0. So what do I do get rid of them ?

  6. 6

    Maria Says

    These are undersmy documents and settings. I found them by looking for SpywareLocked.exe.

  7. 7

    jerome Says

    it says can not be deleted because it is in use…hel plz….how do i end it…..plz help..plz help….thanx in advanced

  8. 8

    John Says

    I found the bpvol.dll files and cannot delete them because they are in use (I know this). How do you delete them?

  9. 9

    Tenn Says

    My spysweeper removed spylocked, but the icon is still on my toolbar. How can I get rid of it?

  10. 10

    John Says

    I have most of the junk removed associated with SpyLocked. My home page will load now as it should, but I still have the flashing alert in the system tray (a popup show there) and another popup window will appear every now and then. I have deleted everything I can find that is associated with this crap and have also run different versions of spy ware removal tools. What am I missing?

  11. 11

    Jolle Says

    In my case the name of the file was xouce.dll
    I had some problem to delete it so I did the following.

    I renamed it to xouce.doc, put it on the desktop, restarted the cpmouter and after that it was possible to delete it

  12. 12

    john Says

    I tried renaming but get access denied message. Any other ideas?

  13. 13

    Jay Says

    I had the same problem as Jolle and the same solution worked for me as well. Changed it from .dll to .doc and moved it. After restart it was nothing to delete.

    Only difference was my problem file was uimcu.dll

  14. 14

    Kerri Says

    My computer is completely locked up and I cannot perform any of these mentioned tasks in order to remove the Win Anti-Virus Pro 2007. Do you have any other suggestions? Please help!

  15. 15

    Kayla Says

    So I’m looking through my files and I read the . Is everything in system 32 part of the virus?

  16. 16

    matthew Says

    help me plzzzz spylocked ver 4 stuck @mycomputer… hikx….

  17. 17

    driftyjim Says

    This is the worst.
    I downloaded kaspersky trial and this got rid of alot but I still cant run any gaming programs without an alert that something from system32 is trying to inject itself.
    When I deny it then I cant run the programs
    Any help?

  18. 18

    wower Says

    how do i get rid of spylocked i searched and didnt find any of the previously metioned files but the piece of @#$ is still in my task bar and my comp is running very slowy HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. 19

    mary Says

    um my winantivirus pro will freeze the computer after like a few mins or so. it doesnt give me enough time to search anything…….

  20. 20

    brian Says

    my task bar disappeared along with my desktop, what now

  21. 21

    leroy Says

    i hAve to say jolle thank you so much man you are a ledgend did exactly as you said and it work god bless man

  22. 22

    ann Says

    THANKS A LOT JOLLE…. I did exactly as you said and it works… the file I found in my PC was yesgnhr.dll… thanks..

  23. 23

    john Says

    Hey, this is a nasty little bugger, been tryin to delete it for last 19 hrs now… yes i ahve been on that long, ok so the dll file is different for everyone, how do i find which one it is for me? then once i do how do i get rid of change to doc and delete?

  24. 24

    nick Says

    i have the same question as john… all the .dll’s are different.. and i need to get this off my toolbar before my cpu really starts to slow down

  25. 25

    nick Says

    how do i find the .dll name?

  26. 26

    rick Says

    To find the .dll name, I followed the instructions given on this page and be sure to include Jolle’s instructions, then I went to the page that listed the possible spylocked .dll’s and inserted each one and did a search. I started with the new ones and worked backwards and found it in the second try. good luck

  27. 27

    Christopher Says

    Because the .dll is “in use” you have to delete it in safe mode. Use either the command prompt or Windows safe mode.

    For the command prompt do the following

    type cd\
    type dir /s
    the “/s” searches the entire drive including sub directories.

    then type del to get rid of this little beast

    You see knowing DOS is still important. If you were a client, I would charge $45 per hour for this. A real money maker!

  28. 28

    ROGER Says

    I’ve continuely a message blockiung the functions of my PC. Trojan? that says Windows Explorer is no more going and have to start again. How can I delete and remove this spyware. Thanks you for Informations.

  29. 29

    moha Says

    HELP guys i have some thing pooping up form my task par. my comp is in trouble. i don’t know what to do i have tired the above interaction but they are not working for me.

  30. 30

    Bawapriya Says

    Hi guys..please help me.I could see Virus Protect pro.3.3 has been downloaded in my system & i have something poppingup from my task bar.My comp is infected with Trojan,which will reduce the performance of my computer.I deleted it from my c: and removed from control panel.SO what steps i should follow now

  31. 31

    Pablo Says

    Thanks Christopher, Finally someone who knows what their doing. Finding a solution to this was actually more annoying than the virus… I wish i would hasve found your posy earlier!

    Cheers Mate

    Pablo

  32. 32

    Barry Says

    I don’t know if it will make a difference, but I went into FBI.gov and reported this virusprotectpro issue I have. I’m fed up with this stuff.

  33. 33

    Gabe Says

    uhhh….ok, i did the search, found something and deleted it…BUT a little shield with changing blue question mark and red x keeps flashing about my “viruses” i have…its next to the time…..so ive tried most of all of the instructions. WHAT IS A SURE SHOT WAY TO GET RID OF THIS CRAP

  34. 34

    fumi Says

    I cant find any files associated with the virusprotectpro spyware, my problem is, its showing an icon in the taskbar, and with clicking the icon ie7 opens and “http://www.virusprotectpro.com/?aff=1012″ site comes, and it uses almost 99% cpu, so i have to kill “explorer.exe” from taskmanager. But how can I get rid of this ? I deselected all the *.exe files from the startup (by msconfig), though the icon exists after booting.
    Any help or suggestions ?

  35. 35

    Hack Says

    My spysweeper removed spylocked, but the icon is still on my toolbar. How can I get rid of it?

  36. 36

    Charles Says

    My problem is similar to that of August 5 by Fumi. As follows: I cant find any files associated with the virusprotectpro spyware, my problem is, its showing an icon in the taskbar, and with clicking the icon ie7 opens and “http://www.virusprotectpro.com/?aff=1012″ Icon warning messages are frequent and stop all other work in progress. Need to be able to delete from taskbar in lower right of Window.

  37. 37

    dmorris311 Says

    god bless JOLLE! i have been trying all weekend to get this thing off my task bar. follow instructions on this page and change .dll to .doc., move to desktop, restart and delete. FIXED! now i need a drink. frustrating. my hidden file was:tmxxxh.dll. THANKS AGAIN JOLLE!

  38. 38

    stephanieta Says

    has anyone had their control panel stolen,also is spylocked where when I try to make changes to anything on c drive for instance, they say I need a system administrator?.
    how can I get my control panel back?

  39. 39

    jay chi3 Says

    i just found my .dll it is msxml3a.dll ,im getting there slowly. u guys (and gals) rock. wish me luck

  40. 40

    helen_coachman Says

    please this spy shredder is a virus but am not able to delete from my computer i have a anti virus but it seem to get past it

  41. 41

    needshelpbad Says

    PLEASE SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME REMOVE Winantivirus pro 2007
    FROM MY COMPUTER. MY EMAIL IS freshprince725@yahoo.com thaanks

  42. 42

    helen_coachman Says

    please how do i get rid of this spy shredder i have tried every thing i can find please help me

  43. 43

    Bumpertech Says

    Hey guys,

    I have tried everything, even those .dll files which are mentioned in the forum but I still cannot get rid of the taskbar icon. Any updates on any other files which may cause this problem

    HELP!

    Thanks

  44. 44

    sarah Says

    I too have spy shredder on my computer. the bugger is annoying and hard to remove. it also keeps popping itself into my System Tray and it gives me alerts every 5 minutes - yep - ANNOYING ;o)

    has anyone tried bleepingcomputers.com? Is it a trusty site? has it helped anyone?

    looking for people with experience specifically with SPY SHREDDER.

    XP ViSta says: SpyShredder, also known as Spy-Shredder, is counterfeit anti-spyware / anti-malware software. SpyShredder usually installed itself onto your PC without your permission, through Trojan, virus and fake software. Spy Shredder will display fake security alerts or notifications to trick user to buy the paid version of Spy Shredder. It is very important to remove all the components of Spy Shredder and all the malware and trojans that it might have come bundle with (such as zlob.trojan, trojan.vundo and Trojan.Downloader)

  45. 45

    Shamen Says

    Thanks Jolle. I had AntiVirGear similiar issues as noted here, grayware, adware, call it what you want. Friggin annoying taskbar reminder. TrendMicro would not clean this for me, and their support department said it was a “legal issue” to have its software clean off adware. uh, think I chose the wrong program!

    Looking for vusxqm.dll Was unable to unregister or delete. So renamed, and voila. Good luck everyone.

  46. 46

    h Says

    please help. been trying for weeks to get rid of securepccleaner. tried the search with different .dll listed but cot found anything. Any ideas PLEEEEEEZE

  47. 47

    h Says

    I have foung in the control panel the shield icon thata named secrity centre. but cannot delete it. (it could be the securepccleaner) trouble is i cannot rename it or deleat it. PLEEEEEZE HELP

  48. 48

    Kate Says

    I found the msmsgs.exe file but I dont have the option of deleting or renaming it. any ideas? thanks

  49. 49

    Steven Says

    How can VirusRay 3.8 be removed? Please, someone help me. I tried some of these intructions but its a bit hard to do…

  50. 50

    Aqeel Says

    Hi there!
    I’ve searched for the virus and found it. It was “stream32a.dll”. I’ve tried all mentioned steps and ideas but could not delete, rename, or remove. What to do now. Pls help.

  51. 51

    mike Says

    ok, i have the “Trojan.Win32.LinkReplacer” virus or spam or whatever it is on my computer. It says my browser has been hijacked. Can anyone who sucessfully deleted this annoying thing help me out?

  52. 52

    bruth Says

    I have the obfuscated trojan and have tried to find all those .dll files and reg files and My Computer has found a thing. WHAT DO I DO??

  53. 53

    robert Says

    when I try to delete advpac.dll file. it keep saying advpac cannot be deleted. :access is denied. is there any other way to delete this advpac.dll file. thanx in advance

  54. 54

    Rafael Says

    Weird:

    All of this crap sounds very weird…mmmhhh…
    I am currently fighting against virusprotect.com…

  55. 55

    ec Says

    how i do it on vista??? i put the files name and them just don t appear!!!! thank you if anybody answer me

  56. 56

    Ben Says

    Hey Guys(And Girls)

    I need a bit of help here. Im having similar problems to the other people posting here. I’ve got toprates.dll on my computer, and i think thats all. I’ve attempted to rename the file, but i was unable to due to the fact that it is in use. I can’t delete it either, for the same reason earlier stated. For those of you farther behind than me, i do have some tips.

    1. Check your registry by going into start/ run/ and type in regedit. That will bring up the registry editor. Press ctrl F to search. Search for the file names you will find using the program(Free)in number 2

    2. Download SpyHunter 3. You can scan, but you can’t delete. You’ve got to register to have the ability to do so. However, it does say the file location, so you can begin to remove all this junk yourself. It might be easier just to by the software though…

    If anyone has anything that may be helpful to me, please please please please please post something here. I hope I’ve been of some help to a few of you.

  57. 57

    Ben Says

    Hey, I’m back again, this time with a healthy computer. Try the stuff in my previous post, and if that doesn’t work, i’ve got something that may help. Use the windows system recovery program. When you reboot your computer, it should give you the option to go into safe mode, or system recovery mode, blah blah blah. In the system recovery mode, your computer enables you to select a previous date, and restore the settings to how it was that day. For me, i only had to go back two days. I may be more for you. You can also access this system recovery mode by rebooting, entering safe mode, and it will proceed to ask you whether or not you wanted safe mode, if you click no, it will bring up the system recovery program. It took me about ten minutes, but i guess it could vary alot, because your computer may have a lot more data to restore. I hope i’ve been of some help. Write a response if it works or if you still need help.

    Ben

  58. 58

    Anonymous A Says

    i know what todo

    but myproblem is the word u told us tosearch

    gepl()xs.dll

    im not sure if that letter is an x

    please help me!!1

  59. 59

    Kevin Says

    This is what worked for me, I had the toprates.dll:

    To find the .dll problem:
    Start>My Computer>Local Disk>Windows

    In the windows file, right click to “VIEW” “DETAILS”

    Then right click to “ARRANGE ICONS BY” and click “MODIFIED”.

    This will arrange all the icons so you can find the problem .dll file according to the date and time you started having the problem. Mine was easy, it happened 15 minutes ago.

    To delete the .dll file:

    Mine could not be erased by clicking on it because it said it was being used by another person or something liek that. I tried moving it to my desktop and I tried renaming it, none of that worked.

    So… I restarted my computer and held the F8 key down. I selected restart in safe mode with networking, then redid what is listed above. I found the .dll file again in safe mode, then right clicked on the file and selected delete. I then restarted the computer and everything is fine.

    Hopefully that works for you guys as well.

  60. 60

    Brad Says

    Ben, i have the same problem you did, and i just now found this posting, i already did spyhunter 3 lol.. seems we did the same thing, i was hoping not to have to go into safe mode but it seems the only way i guess. I’ve tried all other ways. A website said if you go into command prompt and typed the directory that toprates.dll was in type it like this: regsvr32 /u toprates.dll the /u was for the unregistering of the dll for you to be able to delete it from the directory. i tried this several times and it still did not work. If this is the same toprates.dll that you had then you had an annoying popup saying your computer is infected with spyware! and actually it was a bad website scamming you into buying their antivirus or w.e somethin like Files search or w.e.. neways.. this is actually a trojan called Trojan.obfuscated.gx .. prolly the worst trojan i’ve ever faced. im normally good at taking down trojans if i get one but this is the worst one for me.

  61. 61

    Ian Says

    I got this problem too

  62. 62

    Isfdafds Says

    Who actually has the time to make a virus?
    What a fagget

  63. 63

    Janice Says

    I can not find the geplxss file.

    What will i do? pls tell me .

    PLS write e-mail to me,ok?

    I am in China now.thank u very much!

  64. 64

    Denny Says

    I have a problem while using my computer some warning about viruses are popping out like urging me to download those crappy trusted anti virus sites and xp anti virus. How do I get rid of the warning and I cannot delete the xp anti virus protection because its icon is still on the toolbar and it cannot be closed and there’s also a red circle with an x mark on it in the toolbar. Lastly when im using a program the computer just jumps unto another program like im using mozilla firefox and then it will change to other programs i’ve opened automatically. Need a help here guys..

  65. 65

    Stan Says

    mine tells me i do not have permition to do that but im the administrator what do i do????

  66. 66

    Ben Says

    Hey, I’m Back Again.

    Still Have A Healthy Computer, Now Just Trying To Help. Everybody! Just Use The Windows System Restore. Got Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. From There, Choose A Restore Point, And Then Let Windows Do All The Work. It’s Worked Every Time For Me.

    Ben

  67. 67

    Reinier Says

    Ben, thank u soooo much!
    Tried everything…with frustrating results.
    But the system restore did it!
    Thanks!

  68. 68

    Richard S Kent Says

    I have finance problems right now I am on a fixed income and just can’t afford any extra payments.

  69. 69

    Richard S Kent Says

    Thank you but no thank you/

  70. 70

    Andy Says

    Hello everyone,
    My Norton software find avicap3.dll in my computer, said it was a risk file. But can’t delete. I tried to delete it manually but failed. And couldn’t unregist or delete registed entry in safe mode either. Can anybody help me with this? thanks

  71. 71

    Beverly Says

    I just got my computer back. And I got a warning. Since I run xp I thought I needed to click on the warning. Doing so downloaded XP Antivirus 2008. What a bummer. Now I can not get rid of it any suggestions Thank you for your timew!

  72. 72

    cristina Says

    hi i have this question, should i delete al .dll files that are in my computer???

  73. 73

    khalil Says

    i dont know what should i search for. i have same problems , should i search for new files .dll
    plz help me its not the 1st time

  74. 74

    liam Says

    it says that the files have been moved and cannont be deleated, what now?

  75. 75

    ITERN Says

    HOW DO I RESTORE FOLDER OPTIONS AND ACCESS TO TASK MNGR

  76. 76

    Andreea Says

    my dll ws bokpkov.dll
    i used the SpyHunter to track it down
    it was the Zlob Trojan
    i am going to try to move it, rename it, restart and delete
    thank’s guy

  77. 77

    t a Says

    DUD YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME

  78. 78

    soledad Says

    once you delete de *.dll file is over? i’ don’t know if i have to do something else…
    i download the spyhunter program to find the *.dll file location, i rename de file as *.doc, restart the pc and the icon from the toolbar was disappear, then i delete the *.doc file and uninstall the spyhunter.

    thank you very much to you all.

  79. 79

    Jessica Says

    It seems that i’m having the same problem as a lot of other people,i can’t get the icon off my task bar. I Went to search in the start menu and i found 4 files that say XPantiVirus2008..should i delete them?.. i’m still confused..anyway i keep getting a pop up about every 5 minutes because of this stupid thing..well if anyone else figures out anything more that can help please share the info…

  80. 80

    chris paulson Says

    this pop-up came on my screen wanting me to download this product and i did not mean to click on it now i can not remove it from my pc i have tried everything but have had no luck do you have any ideas on how i can remove it im running windows vista

  81. 81

    Chris Says

    It wont let me open the task manager, i saw on another site how to delete it. but it said i needed to end applications, but i cant do that withought task manager.

    this is my moms computer. she is going to kill me.

  82. 82

    Haramyah Says

    I did a search on filename “xpscanner”. Then I renamed it xpscanner.doc and put it on my desktop. I restarted my computer and did another search for “xpscanner.doc” this time. After that, it was easy to delete. Thanks for the advice, guys !

  83. 83

    Tamie Says

    Thanks Kevin! I had the ausctv32a.dll: Your suggestion worked for me!! Yippee!

  84. 84

    azawa Says

    I Shall hppy if anyone help me how to unistall xp anti virus 2008

  85. 85

    maddy Says

    thank u very much. it is very helpful

  86. 86

    Nitish Anand Says

    Hello Guys,

    I am experiencing a similar problem. I have got the pc-antispyware virus alert which freezes everything. I tried Spybot search & destroy, Adaware, Hijackthis, and Sophos but no joy.

    I also tried using SDFix (start the OS in safe mode and then cleans-up all the spywares and trojans).

    Its kinda Vundoo trojan thing, I understand.

    Regards,
    Nitish Anand.

  87. 87

    Mike Says

    Whenever i try yo use Search, it closes…what do i do now?

  88. 88

    Kevin Says

    It says that access is denied when I try to delete the appication of ASM

  89. 89

    Philippe Says

    Help!!

    I can’t search for anything… I click on start then on search and an error sign pops up so I click on the quit button (same effect as if i clicked on ok) and the search window pops up with the dog just sitting there… i can wait as long as i want and he will just sit there with nothing else on screen!!

  90. 90

    Thaís Says

    well, i’m brazilian and had the same problem of everyone here, so i followed kevin’s steps and deleted that.. mine dll was netweb32a.dll
    thank you, and good luck for all!

  91. 91

    isaas Says

    how do i get the off my computer i never wanted it there in the first place

  92. 92

    christina Says

    Hi Kevin
    Thank you for the information to remove “malwarebellagreement”. I tryed all the other information, before coming to your guide…..
    And my computer is good now.
    Mine was called “kodo99x.dll” if it is any help to anybody.
    Thanks again, Kevin.
    Christina

  93. 93

    damn Says

    daaaaamn i want this to get out of my pc im realy pissed of i’ve searched the dlls but it didnt find anythin!!!!
    plzz help me.

  94. 94

    DeadmanWalking Says

    If you all would buy Mac’s There would be no need for this web site. and all of you would be happly surfing the web, working are just playing games.

  95. 95

    wizzard0ne//_\\ Says

    U AlL nEEd to be doing this in safe mode where the file is not in use or it will not delete

  96. 96

    Bilis Says

    guys heeeeeeeelp..!
    i have A0066….exe(619,630,630) and many more on my pc…:(
    i want 2 get rid of this Swizzor thing…please help!

  97. 97

    Kris Says

    I tried to delete xp antivirus from my computer and this thing pops up and says “cannot delete xpa.exe access is denied.” Then says, “Make sure disk is not full or write proected and that the file is not currently in use.” How do I get rid of this pest?

  98. 98

    missi Says

    i tried everything on here to get rid of vista xp or whatever it is. i can’t seem to do it. i tried all three ways and even with one my computer is says that i cant do the control alt delete to get to my task manager saying the administrator has disable it. i am the administrator and ihaven’t done that. help!!!

  99. 99

    Vidcare Says

    I Have a prob. with antivirus programs i have give three dif. software a try and every one of them hangs at system32\driverstore\filerepository and two .dll files have been the problem nvdisps.dll and nvdisr.dll and each time i have to reboot Vista is there any way to deleat the two .dll files i gather the filerepository is surplus
    when i try and deleat Vista wont let me is there Any one can help me as the Antivirus Software are unable to sort it out

  100. 100

    K Says Says

    I did a general search for “Spyware” and the only results that showed were the Antispyware components. I deleted all the files (including the log files) and it got rid of the stupid thing from my computer. Sometimes it will say “cannot delete because file is in use” (or something along those lines). This occurred for me because I did not delete the log files first. After I deleted the log files, I was able to delete the folder that the antispyware program was on.

  101. 101

    Brian Says

    I’m getting a ieav.exe virus on my computer any help on how to remove it. It keeps popping up.

  1. 1

    Agustin

    Interesting stuff. I had a weird experience an antispyware application recently.

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