Invisible File In Recycle Bin. Can't Access It Or Restore It.

From my topic description, you know that I have an invisible file or folder that has been in my Recycle Bin for a few days now. I have no idea how it got there, what it is or how to retrieve it. The bin shows always full, but when opened, there is nothing there to see or restore. I have pressed the restore button, but I just get the system error ring from Windows.

This is another part of the mystery. If I send 2 items to the Recycle Bin for deletion, when I press delete, it will reply-Are you sure you want to delete all 3 items, even though there are only 2 files in the bin. I have tried the following:
Checking display contents of system folders, Show hidden files and folders, unchecked hide extensions for known file types and unchecked hide protected operating system files. I get no response.

I did have a problem with my display card earlier in the week. File NV4_disp was corrupt and kept giving me a blue screen, until I managed to break through, uninstall the nVidea drivers and reinstall them. Since then, everything else have been running smoothly. I just don't feel comfortable deleting a hidden file or folder from my recycle bin.

Any suggestions???

Open Windows Explorer, click on the Tools menu item, then on Folder Options. In the next window, click on the View tab.

Scroll down the list to the part that shows a folder icon and says "Hidden files and folders" Select the option to "Show hidden files and folders".

Then uncheck the next 2 boxes - they should be "Hide extensions for known file types" and "Hide protected operating system files [Recommended]" The last one will give you a warning not to do it - just tell it that you still want to do it.

Then, using Windows Explorer, find the folder named "RECYCLER" on the drive that the Recycle Bin is on (typically the C: drive). When you click on it, you'll see that there's another folder that starts with "S-" (maybe more depending on how your system is setup.

Look inside the S- folders and find the one that has the bad file in it. Then see if you can delete it from there.

If it's still not possible, try it from Safe Mode (reboot and press the F8 key repeatedly as Windows starts to load) and see if it helps.

Hi John, and thanks for your help and the tip. I never even thought about a system folder for the Recycle Bin. I followed your directions, which led me right to the Recycle Folder and it's sub-folder, but there was nothing inside. Despite their being nothing in the system folder, if I click on the Recycle Bin while it is empty, it asks me if I am sure I want to delete this item. I always say no, because I don't know what I am deleting.

I am really at a loss in trying to figure this out. Do you have any other suggestions? Should I roll the dice and hit yes when I press delete in the Recycle Bin??? I don't know what else to do.

Hi Boyo

Im afraid that I do not have any real answers for you, excepting the fact that you should leave well enough alone, and
not delete the mysterious file. That is untill you have some concrete answers.


Better safe than sorry.

Hang in there, perhaps others will have some suggestions/tips for you.

Thank you, Scarlett. I agree with you, don't delete without knowing what you are deleting. That's why I have been manually deleting from the bin. It's just the strangest thing. There has to be some solution (I hope).

Thanks again.

How long has this been in the Recycle Bin? What I recpomend for deleting unknown files is to leave it alone for a week or two - then delete it. Chances are if you haven't needed it by then - it's probably not important!

I think I first noticed it about 3 or 4 days ago. I saw the bin was full and I opened it up to see what I put in there, and there was nothing there. Since then, everytime I empty the recycle bin and it adds one file to the group, I have just been manually deleting the files from the bin.

Maybe I will just give it some time, create a restore point, hit delete and see what happens. It should be interesting....

If you haven't needed it (since it's in the Recycle Bin it's not doing anything for any particular program) - and it's invisible - how important can it be?

Have you tried checking it's properties (even maybe it's size) - then restore it and see where it came from? Even if it's "invisible" you should be able to locate it using the file size in a search.

FWIW - there is an ASCII character which comes up as a blank space. It's sometimes used to keep people from messing with the file. I believe you can see it by holding down the Alt key and typing 255. It isn't as obvious in Windows as it is in DOS - but this could be the problem.

John, I can't access it to see its properties. The bin is empty. The only way that I know there is an invisible file or folder in the bin, happens when I delete the contents of the recycle bin. There is always one extra file added to the list of deletions, but, the file is never listed.

What would I type in a search for the bin? I tried different file extensions, but nothing came up.

Try booting up in Safe Mode. Restart your computer and immediately after the black screen start tapping the F8 key. Once in Safe Mode, see if there's anything visible. It's amazing what's happening now, what with rootkits and other methods of hiding spyware. I've read that rootkits can even hide in video card memory.

Thanks for the suggestion Herk. I tried it, but no luck. Do you really think this may be a rootkit??? Maybe I should run a Hijackthis log. What do you guys think and girls too???

There is something in that bin. I am positive about that. I just have not found the solution to be able to view it. And stop it from happening again.....

You've been patient about this ... monitored and tried several procedures ... to no avail.
I'd say post and continue your patience ... after following the basic preparation advice
pinned at the HJT Forum ... and suspend activity in the pursuit of resolution until a reply is posted.

Okay, thanks for the advice, phawgg. I'll run the tests and post. Thanks again for everyone's help. It is much appreciated.

I am new to this site, and not as familiar with computers as most of you probably are, so I beg your patience, and here goes:

Before posting my question, I have been reading through everything I can find that has already been posted that looks like it might have anything at all to do with my question. Someone will just have to be blunt and tell me if there is no commonality between this issue raised by Boyo and the situation I have encountered, as follows:

(First, will someone please tell me - what is a rootkit? I checked your glossary but it is not listed. As near as I can tell from the context, it may be something ominous planted in a computer, related to a virus.)

Here is my situation:

A few weeks ago when I went into my cookies to delete them, I noticed a file that would not be deleted, and in addition to this, when I attempted to delete the remaining items within my cookie file, they would not delete, but only copied themselves repeatedly. I checked to see if I had been inadvertently hitting copy instead of delete, however, that was not the case. Each time I hit delete, they copied themselves again. unfortunately, I did not figure this out early on, and I ended up with over a thousand cookies which would delete ONLY one at a time. I don't remember now if I tried several different ways to delete them or not - being a little concerned about this strange development, I was willing to play it safe and complete the tedious task. In the end, I had deleted all the cookies, but the one file would not be deleted. Here are the details of the file (which would not let me open it. I copied it to another location thinking perhaps I could open it there, even though I was a bit reticent to try that, but it would not be opened there either.)

It is entitled "index" (without the quotes), and appears to be a data file, assuming this is what DAT File means, the size is 64 KB, and I don't know if this is important to know or not, but it was created April 7, 2005. I purchased this notebook (hppaviliondv1217us) in July as a discontinued floor model, in July, 2005.

I am probably giving more information than anyone needs. Or maybe not enough of the right information. But someone can let me know.

I did have some rather serious vundo issues last fall, but I thought I had resolved everything with that. After that virus experience, (which slipped past Norton anti-virus), I installed McAfee and have been vigilant in my virus checks. My last check was yesterday. Every virus check I have run since ridding my system of the virus last fall has indicated a clean system.

When Boyo began discussing deleting files from his recycle bin manually, I wondered if there is any connection, since, if I am remembering correctly, this is what was also required in my case once I got the cookies into the recycle bin. Everything went to the bin - all the cookies, and that DAT File, but I had to get them out of there independently of the DAT File. Some of his issues seem at least slightly reminiscent of my experience.

Oh, also, when I attempt to open or delete that file, I get the following message: "Cannot delete [or open] index: it is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the file ad try again." I thought about trying to get at it and open it from my daughter's computer but was worried about harming my daughter's computer in case there is anything ominous about the file.

I have not always been well protected but I now have ad-aware and spy sweeper and am as diligent about using them as my virus scan.

Any suggestions, thoughts? Wherever my computer ignorance has been revealed, I would welcome enlightenment. Thank you.

Deb

You can't delete index.dat files from Windows - you have to do it on a reboot. Try this free cleaner application to remove them : http://www.ccleaner.com/

The Cleaner tab is safe to use as is - the Issues and Tools tabs are dangerous! Back up your data and registry before using them!