by Jellimonsta
In reply to
Nicely recovered
Provided you know the location of the file you can easily navigate to it in DOS and change the name (or delete the file). I think you should be able to handle that, right OZ? 
P
I downloaded a file but...
Following on from a thread where a user had this problem, I thought I'd post a tip I discovered, which also illustrates a problem in Windows which many people have had problems with.
When using file sharing apps (legitimately or otherwise) there are often situations where a particlar file (.jpg, .mp3 or whatever) has been stored on a machine and the name of the file changed. Many P2P file sharing networks identify a file using a hash code containing information such as file size etc. enabling multiple sources of an identical file to be identified even if the name has been changed by an individual user.
The problem with multiple sources occurs when a non-Western language has been used to name a file. Many Asian or Japanese versions of Windows use double-bytes to define certain characters and this is where the problem occurs. Western versions of Windows use an ANSI/ISO character set whereby one character is defined in one byte. A Western version of Windows can quite happily create a file on disk using these double byte, non-ANSI characters, but just try and rename or delete the file and you come unstuck. A common error message is 'Unable to rename (or delete)file. File in use by another application'. This also happens if somebody is uploading the file from you (i.e. the file IS actually in use, if not by you!). Shutting down Kazaa, WinMX or whatever other file-sharing app you use has no effect. The file is still locked. Similar problems are also experienced when downloading perfectly legitimate or requested files sent as email attachments. I have been sent many Word docs by Asian colleagues, as well as PDF's from Taiwanese or other Asian manufacturers (datasheets etc.) which suffer from this same problem...it's a case of 'thanks very much for the information, but now I can't delete the file!'
Hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL to terminate any apps or processes which maybe using the file in question provides no help. Nothing seems to be using the file!
Windows is simply unable to do a damn thing with the file. You can't move it, delete it, or rename it. So you are stuck with it...or so it appears.
There is a solution, however, and the answer has been spotted in the Microsoft Knowledge base, but it's one of those obscure problems that many typical users of file sharing apps are unaware of.
The trick is as follows. Either exit to DOS from Windows or boot your system using a DOS (W98 Startup) floppy. Locate the file on the hard drive and then rename it in DOS. DOS will only display an 8.3 filename, but this should be good enough to locate the relevant file, and it does make renaming easier! Assume for example that the DOS name for the rogue file is anythi~1.mp3 (or .avi, .jpg or any other file type).
Having found and navigated to the folder containing the file, type in
ren anythi~1.mp3 rename.mp3
Exit from DOS and return to Windows or reboot the machine to Windows. A simple search for this new filename (or browsing in Windows Explorer to the appropriate folder) will locate the newly named 'rename.mp3'. As the filename now complies with normal Western ANSI character naming, the file can now be moved renamed or deleted within Windows as easily as any other file. Of course, if all you intended to do was delete the file in the first place, this can be done at the DOS prompt.
I may be teaching Grandma to suck eggs here, but in a recent spot survey of a group of techs at a recent get-together, I was the only person who had found an answer to this problem, short of formatting the HDD and reloading everything or just 'ignoring' the dodgy file!
I expect most of you may already be aware of this issue and it's resolution...I post for the benefit of those who aren't!
Mike
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