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re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:43 am Posted by Mark Stephenson (5 messages posted) I should point out that I'm on FAT32 and have no wish to move to NTFS unless neccessary. I'm just anal about having tidy hardrives :) [Reply or follow-up to this message] Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am Posted by Mark Stephenson (5 messages posted) The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ In this message http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these files. If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened in the first place. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, February 1, 2002 at 6:09 am Posted by Michael Vanier (1 messages posted) Mark, did you ever resolve your problem? I have the same situation with the Xerox "nwwia" directory and I have tried everything including trying to delete in Safe mode and DOS. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ > >In this message > >http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 > >It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these >files. > >If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened >in the first place. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, February 1, 2002 at 7:22 am Posted by Andre (3 messages posted) MIKE HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM ?? On Friday, February 1, 2002 at 6:09 am, Michael Vanier wrote: >Mark, did you ever resolve your problem? I have the same situation with the Xerox >"nwwia" directory and I have tried everything including trying to delete in Safe >mode and DOS. > > >On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ > >In this message > >http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 > >It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these >files. > >If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened >in the first place. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, February 6, 2002 at 10:24 am Posted by Phil (2 messages posted) I was just cleaning up my hard drive and I found the infamous ''xerox/nwwia'' files and directory. I HAVE found that if you go into regedit however, it shows that it's listed under HKEY-Current user/software/microsoft/search assistant. It appears to be embedded for whatever reason by Microsoft....for what purpose only they know. *L* Use ''find'' to find the path for it in reg-edit. ( I also found a few program keys that were from surfing on the web also in the same place) I imagine that if you removed that REG_SZ, THEN you could delete the xerox directory.....who's first? *G* On Friday, February 1, 2002 at 7:22 am, Andre Craven wrote: >MIKE HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM ?? > > > > >On Friday, February 1, 2002 at 6:09 am, Michael Vanier wrote: >Mark, did you ever resolve your problem? I have the same situation with the Xerox >"nwwia" directory and I have tried everything including trying to delete in Safe >mode and DOS. > > >On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ > >In this message > >http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 > >It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these > >files. > >If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened > >in the first place. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, February 11, 2002 at 4:24 pm Posted by Gareth Lock (1 messages posted) I had a very similar problem the other week. (Only I had put the dir on the disk full of files.) The dir suddenly came up empty and couldn't be removed!! It turned out to be a corrupted NTFS MFT (Master File Table). Use Norton or CHKDSK or similar and see if it reports a fault with the MFT. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, February 13, 2002 at 1:38 pm Posted by roachfart (1 messages posted) The reason it appears in search assistant is because it been searched for, it dosn't solve the problem to delete that key. On Wednesday, February 6, 2002 at 10:24 am, Phil wrote: >I was just cleaning up my hard drive and I found the infamous ''xerox/nwwia'' files >and directory. I HAVE found that if you go into regedit however, it shows that it's >listed under HKEY-Current user/software/microsoft/search assistant. It appears to >be embedded for whatever reason by Microsoft....for what purpose only they know. >*L* Use ''find'' to find the path for it in reg-edit. ( I also found a few program >keys that were from surfing on the web also in the same place) I imagine that if >you removed that REG_SZ, THEN you could delete the xerox directory.....who's first? >*G* > > >On Friday, February 1, 2002 at 7:22 am, Andre Craven wrote: >MIKE HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM ?? > > > > >On Friday, February 1, 2002 at 6:09 am, Michael Vanier wrote: >Mark, did you ever resolve your problem? I have the same situation with the Xerox > >"nwwia" directory and I have tried everything including trying to delete in Safe > >mode and DOS. > > >On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ > >In this message > >http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 > >It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these > >files. > >If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened > >in the first place. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Sunday, February 17, 2002 at 9:49 am Posted by Jason Andriulaitis (2 messages posted) I have the same problem, and checking the disk doesn't report any problems with the MFT. Although I used the WinXP check disk tool, maybe Norton would yeild better results. The dir can be erased in safe mode, but it just re-appears on normal boot - most distressing. At least I feel somewhat better knowing others are having the same problem... I no longer think it's some kind of trojan. A Google search for "nwwia" turned up a bunch of articles on the Japanese Xerox site, some of which lead to articles on the Japanese Microsoft site, but I was unable to find any equivalents on the english sites. Anyone in this thread speak Japanese? http://www.fujixerox.co.jp/release/2001/1228_nwwia.html http://www.microsoft.com/JAPAN/support/kb/articles/j070/0/25.asp J. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, February 18, 2002 at 10:45 am Posted by Daniel Waters (1 messages posted) I'm in the same boat. I got that particular webpage translated by a Japanese co-worker and it basically says "this folder can't be deleted, sorry". And there is no info on the Xerox or Msft websites (not that there would be). Most distressing. Until someone comes up with a fix or a workaround, I guess we can just keep tinkering and see what happens. On Sunday, February 17, 2002 at 9:49 am, Jason Andriulaitis wrote: >I have the same problem, and checking the disk doesn't report any problems with the >MFT. Although I used the WinXP check disk tool, maybe Norton would yeild better >results. > >The dir can be erased in safe mode, but it just re-appears on normal boot - most >distressing. At least I feel somewhat better knowing others are having the same >problem... I no longer think it's some kind of trojan. > >A Google search for "nwwia" turned up a bunch of articles on the Japanese Xerox site, >some of which lead to articles on the Japanese Microsoft site, but I was unable to >find any equivalents on the english sites. Anyone in this thread speak Japanese? > >http://www.fujixerox.co.jp/release/2001/1228_nwwia.html > >http://www.microsoft.com/JAPAN/support/kb/articles/j070/0/25.asp > >J. > > >On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that >I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] HERE IS THE SOLUTION! (and it sucks) re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, February 18, 2002 at 4:32 pm Posted by Seth (1 messages posted) Phenomenon When the Windows XP is installed, < > the \xerox\nwwia folder is drawn up to the systemdrive \Program Files subordinate. Circumstance This operation is specification of Windows XP. Details The \xerox\nwwia folder from the XEROX Corporation way the WIA which is offered (the WindowsImage Acquisition) is prepared in order to utilize the ƒlƒbƒgƒ��[ƒNƒXƒLƒƒƒi of correspondence. In addition, because it is the folder which is protected by the system, it is not possible to delete. I got this info by using the altavista/babel fish translator to translate the webpage on this URL (http://www.microsoft.com/JAPAN/support/kb/articles/j070/0/25.asp) from japanese to english. ++++++++++ In conclusion, you can't do a thing to these folders becuase they are protected by the system. Nice... I guess we'll just have to live with it, what a piece of crap. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 8:10 pm Posted by Jason Andriulaitis (2 messages posted) OK, that sounds about right. This thing appeared during a failed attempt to install my HP scanner, so it makes sense that it's some Windows Imaging thing. Sucks that it can't be erased, tho... and I uninstalled any remnants of the scanner drivers and software, but the xerox folder remained. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, March 6, 2002 at 1:25 pm Posted by Charlie (1 messages posted) Has anyone tried to remove the directory in console mode? On Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 8:10 pm, Jason Andriulaitis wrote: >OK, that sounds about right. This thing appeared during a failed attempt to install >my HP scanner, so it makes sense that it's some Windows Imaging thing. Sucks that >it can't be erased, tho... and I uninstalled any remnants of the scanner drivers >and software, but the xerox folder remained. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 7:10 pm Posted by Erik Ruggels (1 messages posted) I have ths same problem, I have yet to find a resolution. -esr [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Sunday, March 24, 2002 at 7:03 pm Posted by Jerry Bogrem (1 messages posted) I have the same problem - It appears to be the Windows Image Aquistion service (WIA) that creates it but turning it off doesn't help On Thursday, March 21, 2002 at 7:10 pm, Erik Ruggels wrote: >I have ths same problem, I have yet to find a resolution. > >-esr [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Saturday, March 30, 2002 at 12:44 pm Posted by miles (3 messages posted) shit! there must be some way... i'm about re-format my hard drive and do a clean install of windows xp. if its there after that, it will be my proof that Bill Gates is evil. On Sunday, March 24, 2002 at 7:03 pm, Jerry Bogrem wrote: >I have the same problem - It appears to be the Windows Image Aquistion service (WIA) >that creates it but turning it off doesn't help > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Saturday, April 6, 2002 at 3:06 pm Posted by Nikhil Nawaz (1 messages posted) I have the same damn thing on my computer...i tried everything to delete the folder but it wont go away!!!! I feel like formatting.... On Saturday, March 30, 2002 at 12:44 pm, miles wrote: >shit! there must be some way... >i'm about re-format my hard drive and do a clean install of windows xp. if its there >after that, it will be my proof that Bill Gates is evil. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Tuesday, April 9, 2002 at 6:52 pm Posted by Tyler Hepworth (1 messages posted) On Saturday, April 6, 2002 at 3:06 pm, Nikhil Nawaz wrote: >I have the same damn thing on my computer...i tried everything to delete the folder >but it wont go away!!!! I feel like formatting.... > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 7:59 am Posted by Rewind (1 messages posted) So you are all aware, reformatting won't do anything to help. The Xerox folder is there on install of XP. I should know, I reformat my computer every three months (and I normally do it twice each time because I screw it up). First time I saw it, I thought it was due to my printer. After five minutes, I realized it had nothing to do with it. The only thing I can think of to get rid of the directory is to hack the install files. I may be a computer techie, but I'm nowhere near that good. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 1:30 pm Posted by Jb (1 messages posted) Try disabling the WMI Service in services, then disable it in all profiles. Reboot and then try to remove. The only problem with that is that you won't be able to do a few things. WMI is The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) application programming interface (API) is standardized for acquiring digital images from devices that are primarily used to capture still images, and for managing these devices. My pc camera won't work if it is diabled as well. On Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 7:59 am, Rewind wrote: >So you are all aware, reformatting won't do anything to help. The Xerox folder is >there on install of XP. I should know, I reformat my computer every three months >(and I normally do it twice each time because I screw it up). First time I saw it, >I thought it was due to my printer. After five minutes, I realized it had nothing >to do with it. The only thing I can think of to get rid of the directory is to hack >the install files. > >I may be a computer techie, but I'm nowhere near that good. [Reply or follow-up to this message] The interesting thing... Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 3:24 pm Posted by fakeh (1 messages posted) That's not a solution, that's microsoft denying knowlege of an issue (not for the first time). The intersting thing is that xerox also deny all responsibility for these obtrusions. On Monday, February 18, 2002 at 4:32 pm, Seth wrote: >Phenomenon >When the Windows XP is installed, < > the \xerox\nwwia folder is drawn up to the >systemdrive \Program Files subordinate. > > > >Circumstance >This operation is specification of Windows XP. > > > >Details >The \xerox\nwwia folder from the XEROX Corporation way the WIA which is offered (the >WindowsImage Acquisition) is prepared in order to utilize the ƒlƒbƒgƒ��[ƒNƒXƒLƒƒƒi >of correspondence. >In addition, because it is the folder which is protected by the system, it is not >possible to delete. > >I got this info by using the altavista/babel fish translator to translate the webpage >on this URL (http://www.microsoft.com/JAPAN/support/kb/articles/j070/0/25.asp) from >japanese to english. > > >++++++++++ >In conclusion, you can't do a thing to these folders becuase they are protected by >the system. Nice... I guess we'll just have to live with it, what a piece of crap. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, June 21, 2002 at 7:01 am Posted by Cap (1 messages posted) you Can delete both xerox and frontpage folders by going into safemode (press F8 before windows loads up). that's the good news, the bad news is both folders come back when xp reboots, lol, pretty pesty [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Friday, July 12, 2002 at 12:56 am Posted by Steven Don (2 messages posted) There are ways around this problem. The directories are being created (and held open) by WINLOGON.EXE. - Boot into safe mode. - Remove the offending directories. - Create a text file with the same name as the directory (make sure it no longer has the .txt extension). - From the command prompt, set the system and hidden attributes. (attrib +s +h "msn gaming zone") Because the files have the same name as the annoying directories, WINLOGON can't create or open directories with that name. If Windows has been set to hide protected operating system files (see Folder Options, view tab), you won't see the text files anymore. There must be a way to hack WINLOGON to prevent it from creating this worthless crud, but I haven't found it yet. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Sunday, July 21, 2002 at 8:49 pm Posted by Adam (1 messages posted) That may be so, but will it give you any error messages upone booting into normal xp? Cause if it does, then forget it and let the folder sit there... I'll just ignore it.. it is 0 bytes... On Friday, July 12, 2002 at 12:56 am, Steven Don wrote: >There are ways around this problem. The directories are being created (and held open) >by WINLOGON.EXE. > >- Boot into safe mode. >- Remove the offending directories. >- Create a text file with the same name as the directory (make sure it no longer >has the .txt extension). >- From the command prompt, set the system and hidden attributes. (attrib +s +h "msn >gaming zone") > >Because the files have the same name as the annoying directories, WINLOGON can't >create or open directories with that name. > >If Windows has been set to hide protected operating system files (see Folder Options, >view tab), you won't see the text files anymore. > >There must be a way to hack WINLOGON to prevent it from creating this worthless crud, >but I haven't found it yet. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Monday, July 22, 2002 at 2:40 am Posted by Steven Don (2 messages posted) Nope, it won't give any error messages. On Sunday, July 21, 2002 at 8:49 pm, Adam wrote: >That may be so, but will it give you any error messages upon booting into normal >xp? Cause if it does, then forget it and let the folder sit there... I'll just ignore >it.. it is 0 bytes... [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Saturday, August 10, 2002 at 4:11 pm Posted by SysAdmin (1 messages posted) Nice one! Works like a charm... On Friday, July 12, 2002 at 12:56 am, Steven Don wrote: >There are ways around this problem. The directories are being created (and held open) >by WINLOGON.EXE. > >- Boot into safe mode. >- Remove the offending directories. >- Create a text file with the same name as the directory (make sure it no longer >has the .txt extension). >- From the command prompt, set the system and hidden attributes. (attrib +s +h "msn >gaming zone") > >Because the files have the same name as the annoying directories, WINLOGON can't >create or open directories with that name. > >If Windows has been set to hide protected operating system files (see Folder Options, >view tab), you won't see the text files anymore. > >There must be a way to hack WINLOGON to prevent it from creating this worthless crud, >but I haven't found it yet. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 9:25 pm Posted by Guy (98 messages posted) Arrghh! I have the same "issue" too. The Program files/xerox/nwwia is there. But what's the point in creating a crappy file in place of a crappy folder with the same name.. How in Heck can a freaking OS prevents an administrator from deleting an empty dumb-named and misplaced folder.. f*cking crap. Right now I'm disabling and stopping the Windows Image Acquisition service, and it won't let me delete the thing anyway. I will try rebooting. Let's hope. On Saturday, August 10, 2002 at 4:11 pm, SysAdmin wrote: >Nice one! Works like a charm... > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Friday, August 30, 2002 at 5:52 am Posted by Complexable (1 messages posted) The problem you are having is caused by windows file protection, executed by winlogon. Windows File Protection prevents system files and folders from being altered, and automatically copies a backup file if a system file is altered. The following URL at the end of this message should help. Please note that for windows2000 sp2 and windows xp you need to follow the steps at the bottom of the page for the registry hack to work. This will disable ALL file protection, not just the xerox folder and frontpage folder, so be carefull! It worked for me, but using the hex editor was a pain. I preferred winhex, as you can serach for the offset required and alter the values easily. Good luck! http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790 [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Monday, September 2, 2002 at 11:51 am Posted by Bejhan (3 messages posted) This problem has been troubling me from the first time I cleaned up my hard drive in Win XP. And formatting is no use because I format regularly (to get rid of the junk I don't need easily) and xerox was there when I first booted up, before anything was installed. I think if this didn't have something to do with spying in on us or some illegal secret of microsofts they would have dealed with the complaints by releasing a patch in the updates that appear in the task bar. I know they haven't done this because after my last format I decided to download and install every patch XP provides to see if it would actually fix any of the annoyances but I'm afraid that none of the patches did any good. I think Windows is just too restricted. It always was even with older versions like 98. Even in older Windows you still couldn't get rid of things like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, etc. I think our best choice is to switch to linux, you can change every aspect of linux with a little help of the knowledge of C++, the linux source, and compiler. - Bejhan On Saturday, April 6, 2002 at 3:06 pm, Nikhil Nawaz wrote: >I have the same damn thing on my computer...i tried everything to delete the folder >but it wont go away!!!! I feel like formatting.... > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Tuesday, September 3, 2002 at 7:15 pm Posted by Bejhan (3 messages posted) I went to this site and tried the tweak. If anyone else did can they tell me how to: "copy c:\windows\system32\sfc_os1.dll c:\windows\system32\sfc_os.dll /y copy c:\windows\system32\sfc_os1.dll c:\windows\system32\dllcache\sfc_os.dll /y". I tried to in the command prompt which didn't work because the file is being used. How do I do this? On Friday, August 30, 2002 at 5:52 am, Complexable wrote: >The problem you are having is caused by windows file protection, executed by winlogon. >Windows File Protection prevents system files and folders from being altered, and >automatically copies a backup file if a system file is altered. The following URL >at the end of this message should help. Please note that for windows2000 sp2 and >windows xp you need to follow the steps at the bottom of the page for the registry >hack to work. This will disable ALL file protection, not just the xerox folder and >frontpage folder, so be carefull! It worked for me, but using the hex editor was >a pain. I preferred winhex, as you can serach for the offset required and alter the >values easily. Good luck! > >http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790 [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Saturday, September 7, 2002 at 9:42 am Posted by shannon (1 messages posted) its pretty simple really, you just have to boot up in safe mode (hit F8 at the prompt when the computer starts up). you cant copy over the old sfc_os.dll, but you can move the one in the \system32\ dir to a temp/backup dir, then move the one you edited, after ren it to sfc_os.dll, into the system32 dir. then reboot, and then do the regedit and reboot again and you should be ready to go. its a nice little fix really. thanks all you contributors, its worked out fine.. On Tuesday, September 3, 2002 at 7:15 pm, Bejhan wrote: >I went to this site and tried the tweak. If anyone else did can they tell me how >to: "copy c:\windows\system32\sfc_os1.dll c:\windows\system32\sfc_os.dll /y >copy c:\windows\system32\sfc_os1.dll c:\windows\system32\dllcache\sfc_os.dll /y". >I tried to in the command prompt which didn't work because the file is being used. >How do I do this? > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories (a solution) Thursday, October 10, 2002 at 6:19 pm Posted by Joseph Riesen (1 messages posted) Well, it appears as though the hack on winguides.com applies to the base Windows XP sfc_os.dll... not the one that comes with Service Pack 1. Not wanting to expend the actual effort required to figure out the old hack and apply it to the new DLL (and who knows if they've made it harder to crack this time around), I just shot the folks at Winguides an email. Perhaps they'll have an update on the site soon... On Friday, August 30, 2002 at 5:52 am, Complexable wrote: >The problem you are having is caused by windows file protection, executed by winlogon. >Windows File Protection prevents system files and folders from being altered, and >automatically copies a backup file if a system file is altered. The following URL >at the end of this message should help. Please note that for windows2000 sp2 and >windows xp you need to follow the steps at the bottom of the page for the registry >hack to work. This will disable ALL file protection, not just the xerox folder and >frontpage folder, so be carefull! It worked for me, but using the hex editor was >a pain. I preferred winhex, as you can serach for the offset required and alter the >values easily. Good luck! > >http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790 [Reply or follow-up to this message] It works, but how? Sunday, October 20, 2002 at 12:25 pm Posted by Saul Stahlman (1 messages posted) I came here looking for a way to get rid of the blasted directories, and, somehow, managed to figure it out myself. ::boggles:: Well, sort of. I don't know what finally 'did it', but currently I don't have any of the following under the directory that serves as my "Program Files" (on my system, 'sbin'): Outlook Express MSN Gaming Zone Netmeeting MovieMaker Xerox First, I used Xteq to disable SFC as best as I could (I'm running XP slipstreamed with sp1). I've got it set up to pop up dialogs when it runs, which I always cancel. Outlook, Netmeeting, MovieMaker etc files were removed with Norton SysWorks 2001's cleansweep... (2003 is SUCH a piece of crap... when I changed my program files directory, it just stopped working, saying files had been tampered with... and no amount of removing and reinstalling seems to work, even removing anything norton from the registry and shared files... anyone know how to remove *EVERY* trace of Norton from their system? Or shall I make time to use Dllinfo until I've got it?) At this point, directories still would not let themselves be deleted... oh.exe still showed them belonging to winlogin. Next step was to use regedit to removing every reference to any of them... ie, I searched on 'sbin' and anything that said Netmeeting or Movemaker etc I removed (the key). After doing THAT, rebooted, and was able to remove. I also had changed the permissions on some so that the system account had no access. I don't think that really mattered. Only weird part is that none of the entries I removed made any reference to Xerox (as others have noted here). And I never run the imaging service. Pretty weird. This is a pretty useless thing, but I'm anal about configuring my system, and knowing exactly what each directory holds and why, so, for others like me, I hope this helps a bit. Note that I deleted the directories in normal mode windows... didn't use safe mode or the recovery console. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 12:12 pm Posted by Rob (1 messages posted) Umm guys.....its just a directory that does norhing but wait for some software you'll never buy to end up in it. It does nothing. Why are you all so stressed? I bet your desks are all arranged perpendicular and parallel and you make sure every icon on your desktop lines up with the post it notes atached to the side of your monitor. Chill out guys. It doesnt matter to anyone in the known universe.....and yes....Bill Gates is evil. On Sunday, October 20, 2002 at 12:25 pm, Saul Stahlman wrote: >I came here looking for a way to get rid of the blasted directories, and, somehow, >managed to figure it out myself. ::boggles:: Well, sort of. I don't know what finally >'did it', but currently I don't have any of the following under the directory that >serves as my "Program Files" (on my system, 'sbin'): >Outlook Express >MSN Gaming Zone >Netmeeting >MovieMaker >Xerox >First, I used Xteq to disable SFC as best as I could (I'm running XP slipstreamed >with sp1). I've got it set up to pop up dialogs when it runs, which I always cancel. >Outlook, Netmeeting, MovieMaker etc files were removed with Norton SysWorks 2001's >cleansweep... (2003 is SUCH a piece of crap... when I changed my program files directory, >it just stopped working, saying files had been tampered with... and no amount of >removing and reinstalling seems to work, even removing anything norton from the registry >and shared files... anyone know how to remove *EVERY* trace of Norton from their >system? Or shall I make time to use Dllinfo until I've got it?) >At this point, directories still would not let themselves be deleted... oh.exe still >showed them belonging to winlogin. Next step was to use regedit to removing every >reference to any of them... ie, I searched on 'sbin' and anything that said Netmeeting >or Movemaker etc I removed (the key). After doing THAT, rebooted, and was able to >remove. I also had changed the permissions on some so that the system account had >no access. I don't think that really mattered. Only weird part is that none of the >entries I removed made any reference to Xerox (as others have noted here). And I >never run the imaging service. Pretty weird. This is a pretty useless thing, but >I'm anal about configuring my system, and knowing exactly what each directory holds >and why, so, for others like me, I hope this helps a bit. Note that I deleted the >directories in normal mode windows... didn't use safe mode or the recovery console. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 8:16 am Posted by cobra (1 messages posted) Folks,if you just right click on the folders in question and choose HIDE option they will disapear. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Thursday, May 8, 2003 at 9:16 pm Posted by teacup (1 messages posted) It's just the principle of having useless folders that you can't delete. It annoys me... On Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 12:12 pm, Rob wrote: >Umm guys.....its just a directory that does norhing but wait for some software you'll >never buy to end up in it. It does nothing. Why are you all so stressed? I bet >your desks are all arranged perpendicular and parallel and you make sure every icon >on your desktop lines up with the post it notes atached to the side of your monitor. > >Chill out guys. It doesnt matter to anyone in the known universe.....and yes....Bill >Gates is evil. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Saturday, May 10, 2003 at 10:15 am Posted by PartieHonteuse (6 messages posted) Xp has inbuilt ability to scan and OCR docs. This ability was licenced from Xerox, despite the fact that every scanner uses it's own ocr program much better than XP built in generic hit or miss form If you are determined to use the inbuilt XP version, if your scanner will let you, it will use the Xerox/nwwia folder as tempory holding place for the files while it processes them. It is perfectly harmless so leave it alone. the same applies to the redundant frontpage folder in XP. That is there for people who have created webpages with 9x and frontpage express. the files that have been created look for that folder to hold tempory information, while they are being changed. ignore that one as well. If you can't ignore and wish to "delete an undeleteable file" in wiindows XP follow these steps taken from http://www.dougknox.com (only his post pertains to files, you can change it to pertain to folders/dirs) Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager. to change it to delete a folder instead of DEL use RMDIR where is the name of the folder/directory you wish to delete.. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Saturday, June 14, 2003 at 2:07 pm Posted by Jeff adams (1 messages posted) In my case, it relates to printer drivers that xp installs from it's cab file or at least I think thats it. I have more idea on next reply. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, June 20, 2003 at 12:57 pm Posted by Scott (1 messages posted) These folders are a giant annoyance. I share in all your pain. I however, found that some spyware once placed a bunch of Gambling site cookies/links in the NWWIA folder. I deleted those but the XEROX folders obviosly remain. I could not be convinced their "placement" in that folder was a "coincidence". I am not skilled enough in IT to start modifying system files. On Saturday, June 14, 2003 at 2:07 pm, Jeff adams wrote: > >In my case, it relates to printer drivers that xp installs from it's cab file or >at least I think thats it. I have more idea on next reply. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 6:55 am Posted by JK (1 messages posted) I was able to delete these directories using safe mode, but when I rebooted the computer they returned. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:50 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > The saga continues as I trawl through the back messages........ > >In this message > >http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/r1007036226 > >It states that if I run XP in safe mode or debug I should be able to delete these >files. > >If this works that will be great, however it's still annoying that they happened >in the first place. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, August 8, 2003 at 8:49 pm Posted by Rob (1 messages posted) It's in the registry... I know this because I changed my program files directory by replacing like 10000 registry items. Eventually I could delete the old program files directory with xerox, frontpage, movie maker etc. inside. Thus the registry is the key. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, August 22, 2003 at 6:08 am Posted by Muratech (1 messages posted) On this same subject. Anyone know of any software that will scan your hardrive, for unused/empty directories and delete them for you. On Friday, August 8, 2003 at 8:49 pm, Rob wrote: >It's in the registry... I know this because I changed my program files directory >by replacing like 10000 registry items. Eventually I could delete the old program >files directory with xerox, frontpage, movie maker etc. inside. Thus the registry >is the key. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Thursday, September 4, 2003 at 10:17 pm Posted by Brian Bober (4 messages posted) This is one of my biggest beefs with Microsoft... They assume too much about where the user will want things. I also don't like that C:\WUTemp directory. I want my directories to be neat, and not a cluttered mess of Microsoft junk. That's why I like Linux, because you can virtually configure anything (even if it means hacking some code). A little trick... You can use Process Viewer from www.sysinternals.com to see which program is using these directories. For some stupid reason, its winlogon.exe On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Thursday, September 4, 2003 at 10:21 pm Posted by Brian Bober (4 messages posted) You can do the same thing using Process Viewer from sysinternals.com and force the handles closed of those files that winlogon.exe has open. It doesn't work that way either, though. This is such baloney. I guess that's what people get for being on a system that tries to be totally automated. That's partly why I like Linux better. On Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 6:55 am, JK wrote: >I was able to delete these directories using safe mode, but when I rebooted the computer >they returned. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Thursday, September 4, 2003 at 10:32 pm Posted by Brian Bober (4 messages posted) Do you honestly think that they enable the hiding of "hidden files"? I sure as heck don't. On Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 8:16 am, cobra wrote: >Folks,if you just right click on the folders in question and choose HIDE option they >will disapear. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: It works, but how? Friday, September 5, 2003 at 1:09 am Posted by Brian Bober (4 messages posted) I don't think this applies to this issue. On Saturday, May 10, 2003 at 10:15 am, PartieHonteuse wrote: >Xp has inbuilt ability to scan and OCR docs. > >This ability was licenced from Xerox, despite the fact that every scanner uses it's >own ocr program much better than XP built in generic hit or miss form > >If you are determined to use the inbuilt XP version, if your scanner will let you, >it will use the Xerox/nwwia folder as tempory holding place for the files while it >processes them. > >It is perfectly harmless so leave it alone. > >the same applies to the redundant frontpage folder in XP. > >That is there for people who have created webpages with 9x and frontpage express. >the files that have been created look for that folder to hold tempory information, >while they are being changed. ignore that one as well. If you can't ignore and wish >to "delete an undeleteable file" in wiindows XP follow these steps taken from http://www.dougknox.com >(only his post pertains to files, you can change it to pertain to folders/dirs) > >Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, >Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. > Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the >directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the command prompt >type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go back to >Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. > Close Task Manager. > >to change it to delete a folder instead of DEL use RMDIR where >is the name of the folder/directory you wish to delete.. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: HERE IS THE SOLUTION! (and it sucks) re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Saturday, September 6, 2003 at 9:43 am Posted by John (1 messages posted) Use a system boot disk and delete through DOS. Then use a reg clean program to get rid of the mess. Lookout [Reply or follow-up to this message] A MUCH EASIER way to DELETE nwwia, xerox: Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:17 pm Posted by zardiw (10 messages posted) Jeez, how many people you think are going to do that????? Here's what you do: I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 I have the solution. This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the following and have had NO problems: Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z On Saturday, September 6, 2003 at 9:43 am, John wrote: >Use a system boot disk and delete through DOS. Then use a reg clean program to get >rid of the mess. > >Lookout [Reply or follow-up to this message] EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm Posted by zardiw (10 messages posted) I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm KIDDING, OK....lol.... But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! Here's what you do: I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the following and have had NO problems Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] Re; Deleting empty directories Friday, September 26, 2003 at 2:35 pm Posted by Pippa (1 messages posted) Try "JV16 power tools". Freeware versions are still available. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re; Deleting empty directories Thursday, November 20, 2003 at 12:19 pm Posted by Darkestfieriest (1 messages posted) I went to the Properties menu by right clicking on the xerox folder. Then, in the Advanced tab I de-selected "For fast searching..." I wonder if that will keep the outside world from my directory. I haven't had any problems so far, but I was amazed to find so much about this folder. DF On Friday, September 26, 2003 at 2:35 pm, Pippa wrote: > > > >Try "JV16 power tools". Freeware versions are still >available. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Monday, November 24, 2003 at 5:42 am Posted by Damn Microflotz (1 messages posted) The sfcfiles.dll is being recreated after changing the sfcfiles.dll and restarting. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 9:03 am Posted by John B (1 messages posted) Jeesh, Thanks. This fix worked but I still don't know what the hell the Xerox/NWWIA directories were for or what they did. It just annoyed the $hit out of me because I never once used a Xerox product and it wouldn't go away. Does anyone know why it is there at all? Again, thanks for the good info. John - Columbus Ohio On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 3:52 pm Posted by Billy Girlardo (28 messages posted) Well, I'm glad it worked for you but it didn't for me. I had 3 of the suspect filenames come up in my search, although a total of nine came up (the others had different names, weird!). I was able to change the names of 2 of the 3 but the file in the C:\I386 sub wouldn't give me acces to change it. Guess I'll read all these posts and go from there. On Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 9:03 am, John B wrote: >Jeesh, >Thanks. This fix worked but I still don't know what the hell the Xerox/NWWIA directories >were for or what they did. > >It just annoyed the $hit out of me because I never once used a Xerox product and >it wouldn't go away. > >Does anyone know why it is there at all? > >Again, thanks for the good info. >John - Columbus Ohio > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Simple, effective, solution. Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at 5:18 pm Posted by Gavin Sharp (4 messages posted) Hi All, I've found a (relatively) simple solution to the undeletable folder problem. Several of these folders were present on my system, including the Xerox one. I followed the instructions at: http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790/ After a reboot, you are then able to remove the folders as you normally would. Be aware that this does, however, also remove the protection of critical system files, which depending on your level of expertise, could be either good or bad. The tweak itself is harmless. Gavin Sharp On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] Simple effective and safe solution. Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at 5:20 pm Posted by Gavin Sharp (4 messages posted) Hi All, I've found a (relatively) simple solution to the undeletable folder problem. Several of these folders were present on my system, including the Xerox one. I followed the instructions at: http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790/ After a reboot, you are then able to remove the folders as you normally would. Be aware that this does, however, also remove the protection of critical system files, which depending on your level of expertise, could be either good or bad. The tweak itself is harmless. Gavin Sharp On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:17 pm, zardiw wrote: > >Jeez, how many people you think are going to do that????? > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >I have the solution. This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating >system. > > I did the following and have had NO problems: Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need >to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search system folders', 'Search hidden >files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. > >Change all their names (highlight the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. XP may >tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > > http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at 4:12 pm Posted by rav (1 messages posted) In your case it is probably NT authority systematics on which you is pushed. It is held by the process C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe. Please the Winlogon process do not terminate otherwise drives your system hard core down and you lose your data!! That draw-eat "xerox\nwwia" by system one provides, i.e. if you in the securing mode draw-eat would delete the system it will again and again again provide. To draw-eat and which it makes: That is part of the "Scaner and camera" function of the XPs. Windows image Acquisition = "wia" of "nwwia" and now everything clearly??? ne not yet? Thus well, the company Xerox from Japan is a copier -, fax, Scaner and other office hardware manufacturers. That has a Scaner and a ne OCR software made with which one directly in XP clean scanning can. So that M$ was allowed to also build the driver and the function into its XP system had it to contractual the path "\xerox\nwwia" to assure, which is also the reason warun the system draw-eats provided. Security is not endangered, I 26 days long a software for examining for it released and was so correctly nothing. It already does not enter or two possibilities draw-eats to deletion however makes a sense durable. That can be done then to the substance of the Scaner and Digi Cam function of the XPs and that does not have to not be. And now all clear? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Monday, April 26, 2004 at 8:19 am Posted by joniaint (1 messages posted) Every time I rename or delete sfcfiles.dll Windows XP automatically replaces it seconds later. What do I do about that? On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: > >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Wednesday, April 28, 2004 at 7:15 pm Posted by Rik (1 messages posted) I followed the original directions and it worked perfectly fine for me. I use WinXP/Pro without service pack 2 and 3 installed. On Monday, April 26, 2004 at 8:19 am, joniaint wrote: >Every time I rename or delete sfcfiles.dll Windows XP automatically replaces it seconds >later. What do I do about that? > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Thursday, April 29, 2004 at 6:58 am Posted by Tony (1 messages posted) Thanks for this info I was able to get rid of not only the xerox\nwwia file but also the msmsger program as well I've been trying to get that duplicate program off of my system for some time now and this did the trick. Thanks. On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: > >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Friday, May 7, 2004 at 4:23 pm Posted by Alisa (1 messages posted) I see this method must work, so why not for me? I tried renaming the file sfcfiles.dll to sfcfilesold.dll but XP never warned me that I'm being "very, very BAD". It appeared to work, but the folders would still not let me delete them.. I looked back in C:\Windows\System32 and XP had created a new sfcfiles.dll! Is there something I can do to stop it from creating a new file each time I rename it?? Thanks! On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: > >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Thursday, July 8, 2004 at 12:13 am Posted by LEDOUX (1 messages posted) it doesn't work, sfcfiles.dll is still in system32 directory after renaming. Any other idea how to delete Xerox/nwwia ? ? On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: > >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Sunday, August 8, 2004 at 9:32 pm Posted by Carl Ruppert (1 messages posted) Please just leave the directory and the sfcfiles alone. They ARE in fact essential to the XP operating system. I learned the hard way, and had to replace what was so easily removed. If you ever have to run the DirectX Diagnostic tool from Run (dxdiag), it will fail w/o these files. There are plenty of "ghosts" in XP, but this is not one. I tried to free up hard drive space by clearing as much as possible, and fell for this trick. Don't. If you don't KNOW what it does, leave it alone or call Support. Whew. On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 5:25 pm, zardiw wrote: > >I can't believe how many messages/convoluted ways people have come up with here. >How bout this, take a hammer and smash your hard drive...that ought to do it..I'm >KIDDING, OK....lol.... > >But there's a very EASY way to get rid of these!!!! > >Here's what you do: > >I owe this solution to 'twister', who lives/posts here: > >http://www.asendtechnologies.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6868 > >This will give you added power over your Xtremely Pesky operating system. I did the >following and have had NO problems > >Do a find on 'sfcfiles'. You need to do the advanced search option, and check 'Search >system folders', 'Search hidden files', and 'Search sub folders'. > >Results will be sfcfiles.dll, in one or more places. Change all their names (highlight >the file and hit F2) to sfcfilesold.dll. > >XP may tell you that you are being very very BAD, so tell XP to go piss up a rope...lol........ > >Restart, and voila, you can delete nwwia, xerox etc. > >http://www.wizardscave.com soon to be: > >http://www.lighthouse57.com...............z > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Simple effective and safe solution. Saturday, September 11, 2004 at 12:30 pm Posted by Ben (1 messages posted) Do not, under any circumstances, do what this guy says. I tried it and it naffed up my computer, and i had to reinstall Xp. If you know this guy, do the world a favour and kill him. On Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at 5:20 pm, Gavin Sharp wrote: >Hi All, > >I've found a (relatively) simple solution to the undeletable folder problem. Several >of these folders were present on my system, including the Xerox one. I followed the >instructions at: > >http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/790/ > >After a reboot, you are then able to remove the folders as you normally would. Be >aware that this does, however, also remove the protection of critical system files, >which depending on your level of expertise, could be either good or bad. The tweak >itself is harmless. > >Gavin Sharp > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Simple effective and safe solution. Saturday, September 11, 2004 at 4:00 pm Posted by Gavin Sharp (4 messages posted) On Saturday, September 11, 2004 at 12:30 pm, Ben wrote: >Do not, under any circumstances, do what this guy >says. I tried it and it naffed up my computer, and i >had to reinstall Xp. If you know this guy, do the >world a favour and kill him. I'm sorry you're computer got "naffed up", but I can assure you that it has nothing to do with the advice I have given. If you follow the instructions correctly, there is no reason that this would do any damage to your computer. If you're looking to blame someone for your computer mishaps, I would recommend you take a good look at yourself. The advice comes from a reputable website and has worked perfectly for everyone I know. As for your other comments, I think they are completely inappropriate. This forum is here for people to help each other with computer issues and resolve problems, and your post does neither. If you don't know how to follow instructions then that's no problem of mine. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: EASY way to DELETE nwwia, xerox, etc. Sunday, October 31, 2004 at 6:44 am Posted by Rich (2 messages posted) Wish I had read all the way. The ""remove sfcfiles.dll 'trick'" did not work. Does anyone have a NON FAKE way to remove the xerox directory? On Sunday, August 8, 2004 at 9:32 pm, Carl Ruppert wrote: > >Please just leave the directory and the sfcfiles alone. They ARE in fact essential >to the XP operating system. I learned the hard way, and had to replace what was so >easily removed. If you ever have to run the DirectX Diagnostic tool from Run (dxdiag), >it will fail w/o these files. There are plenty of "ghosts" in XP, but this is not >one. I tried to free up hard drive space by clearing as much as possible, and fell >for this trick. Don't. If you don't KNOW what it does, leave it alone or call Support. >Whew. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Wednesday, December 8, 2004 at 10:08 pm Posted by BigBlue (1 messages posted) Try this http://www.wintrouble.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000096 On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Friday, February 4, 2005 at 5:30 pm Posted by Jeff (1 messages posted) Cay you write it again in English!!! On Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at 4:12 pm, rav wrote: >In your case it is probably NT authority systematics on which you is pushed. It >is held by the process C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe. Please the Winlogon process >do not terminate otherwise drives your system hard core down and you lose your data!! > That draw-eat "xerox\nwwia" by system one provides, i.e. if you in the securing >mode draw-eat would delete the system it will again and again again provide. To >draw-eat and which it makes: That is part of the "Scaner and camera" function of >the XPs. Windows image Acquisition = "wia" of "nwwia" and now everything clearly??? > ne not yet? Thus well, the company Xerox from Japan is a copier -, fax, Scaner >and other office hardware manufacturers. That has a Scaner and a ne OCR software >made with which one directly in XP clean scanning can. So that M$ was allowed to >also build the driver and the function into its XP system had it to contractual the >path "\xerox\nwwia" to assure, which is also the reason warun the system draw-eats >provided. Security is not endangered, I 26 days long a software for examining for >it released and was so correctly nothing. It already does not enter or two possibilities >draw-eats to deletion however makes a sense durable. That can be done then to the >substance of the Scaner and Digi Cam function of the XPs and that does not have to >not be. And now all clear? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories - DONE! Friday, September 30, 2005 at 9:47 am Posted by Flemur13013 (1 messages posted) I managed to safely remove "Program files\MSN Gaming Zone" and "Program Files\xerox" and keep them removed. Here's how: 1 - Boot in Safe Mode and delete the folders. 2 - While in Safe Mode, start Notepad (or Wordpad, etc). 3 - I enter this text in the file: "This file is to prevent Winos from re-creating a directory with the same file name." 4 - Save the file as "MSN Gaming Zone" (if an extension got stuck on, remove it). 5 - Change the permissions on "MSN Gaming Zone" to "Read Only." (It can be tricky to get at the "OK" button in Safe Mode!) 6 - Reboot normally. Now you'll have a regular read-only file named "MSN Gaming Zone," which isn't perfect, but it's better than having the silly directory. I used the same method to remove "NetMeeting," "Frontpage," "Outlook Express," "Windows Media Player" and some other garbage. If you ever have any problems, just delete the file you created. All this works in Win2000 and XP. Good Luck Mr. F. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories - DONE! Friday, October 21, 2005 at 8:04 pm Posted by Michelle Wilkins (1 messages posted) It didn't work for me. Any other suggestions? On Friday, September 30, 2005 at 9:47 am, Flemur13013 wrote: > >I managed to safely remove "Program files\MSN Gaming Zone" and "Program Files\xerox" >and keep them removed. > > Here's how: > > 1 - Boot in Safe Mode and delete the folders. > > 2 - While in Safe Mode, start Notepad (or Wordpad, etc). > > 3 - I enter this text in the file: "This file is to prevent Winos from re-creating > a directory with the same file name." > > 4 - Save the file as "MSN Gaming Zone" > (if an extension got stuck on, remove it). > > 5 - Change the permissions on "MSN Gaming Zone" to "Read Only." > (It can be tricky to get at the "OK" button in Safe Mode!) > > 6 - Reboot normally. > > Now you'll have a regular read-only file named "MSN Gaming Zone," > which isn't perfect, but it's better than having the silly directory. > > I used the same method to remove "NetMeeting," "Frontpage," > "Outlook Express," "Windows Media Player" and some other garbage. > > If you ever have any problems, just delete the file you created. All this works >in Win2000 and XP. > > Good Luck > Mr. F. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories - DONE! Saturday, November 12, 2005 at 11:12 pm Posted by Dori (1 messages posted) I am going to try this. My thing is the xerox/nwwia file. I have a xerox printer, had it for a couple of years, well once I got windows xp I needed to upgrade it. In order to do that ALL xerox files must be deleted. Umm...ok...and how am I supposed to do that when it wont let me? It's been a vicious cycle and my poor printer is sitting over there getting all dusty and the ink is dried out. I have contacted xerox and they have no solution. It's absolutely nuts! On Friday, September 30, 2005 at 9:47 am, Flemur13013 wrote: > >I managed to safely remove "Program files\MSN Gaming Zone" and "Program Files\xerox" >and keep them removed. > > Here's how: > > 1 - Boot in Safe Mode and delete the folders. > > 2 - While in Safe Mode, start Notepad (or Wordpad, etc). > > 3 - I enter this text in the file: "This file is to prevent Winos from re-creating > a directory with the same file name." > > 4 - Save the file as "MSN Gaming Zone" > (if an extension got stuck on, remove it). > > 5 - Change the permissions on "MSN Gaming Zone" to "Read Only." > (It can be tricky to get at the "OK" button in Safe Mode!) > > 6 - Reboot normally. > > Now you'll have a regular read-only file named "MSN Gaming Zone," > which isn't perfect, but it's better than having the silly directory. > > I used the same method to remove "NetMeeting," "Frontpage," > "Outlook Express," "Windows Media Player" and some other garbage. > > If you ever have any problems, just delete the file you created. All this works >in Win2000 and XP. > > Good Luck > Mr. F. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Simple, effective, solution. Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 10:47 am Posted by Marco Coletti (1 messages posted) C:\tmp>strings C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfc* | qgrep -y xerox C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\xrxflnch.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\XrxFTPLt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\xrxflnch.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\XrxFTPLt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\xrxflnch.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\XrxFTPLt.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\xrxflnch.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sfcfiles.dll: %ProgramFiles%\Xerox\NWWia\XrxFTPLt.exe [Reply or follow-up to this message] No problems, it is gone!! Monday, April 17, 2006 at 10:44 am Posted by Urban (1 messages posted) Greetings, Well I got rid of the xerox directory without any problems at all. 1. I turned off system recovery. 2. Rebooted and deleted the xerox directory 3. Turned on system recovery 4. Rebooted, the xerox directory is no longer there. On Saturday, November 12, 2005 at 11:12 pm, Dori wrote: >I am going to try this. My thing is the xerox/nwwia file. I have a xerox printer, >had it for a couple of years, well once I got windows xp I needed to upgrade it. > In order to do that ALL xerox files must be deleted. Umm...ok...and how am I supposed >to do that when it wont let me? It's been a vicious cycle and my poor printer is >sitting over there getting all dusty and the ink is dried out. > >I have contacted xerox and they have no solution. It's absolutely nuts! > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: WARNING: Spyware of the worst kind. Friday, June 30, 2006 at 12:35 pm Posted by Anon (1 messages posted) You didn't hear this from me, but here's the real scoop on the xerox folder as well as other ghost/empty directories. They are well hidden functional spyware programs, created at MS for the sole purpose of ghosting your computer data as well as collecting every url you visit. Information is sent each time you reboot and logon or once every 6 hours, whichever occurs first to the MS and the NSA for data collection purposes. I kid you not. Beware and good luck in thwarting this. On Monday, December 3, 2001 at 2:16 am, Mark Stephenson wrote: > >Here's an interesting one that I'd like someone's idea's on. > >XP has created loads of empty directories in my program files dir that I don't want >and I can't delete them. > >I'm admin on the box so there should be no problems but the error messages that I >get (which I can't remember at this point) suggests that there are services accessing >these empty directories. > >So I've rooted around looking for things but find no way of doing it. > >I installed the Recovery Option and cannot delete these directories there either. > >Example of these directory's are \program files\xerox\nwwia and msn gaming. > >And I've never had anything made by xerox on my machine and can find no reference >to Xerox in the registry. > >I've tried to shut down as many services as possible and I've changed the rights >to these directories but to no avial, they just reset themselves. > >Has anyone else come across this problem? > >Cheers [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: No problems, it is gone!! Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 9:01 pm Posted by Roger Morris (1 messages posted) Unfortunately the method described did not work for me, even though I have System Restore turned off. I tried deleting xerox/nwwia while in Safe Mode, but this was also not effective. I am not good enough with computers to feel comfortable using a hex editor on the Registry to eliminate a folder that apparently takes negligible hard drive space. Instead I opened the folder's Properties, went to Attributes and checked the Hidden box. Since I have "do not show hidden files and folders" checked under the Tools Menu/ Folder Options/View, I no longer see the folder. "Out of sight, out of mind". On Monday, April 17, 2006 at 10:44 am, Urban wrote: >Greetings, > >Well I got rid of the xerox directory without any problems at all. > >1. I turned off system recovery. > >2. Rebooted and deleted the xerox directory > >3. Turned on system recovery > >4. Rebooted, the xerox directory is no longer there. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: No problems, it is gone!! Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 8:32 am Posted by AlexI (1 messages posted) I don't know for a fact if this will work yet, as I haven't rebooted, but Unlocker, from http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/ let me delete the folder nice and easy... [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Possible Solution for those who come after me! re: Deleting Ghost/Empty Directories Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 7:27 pm Posted by bill (1 messages posted) the easiest way to delrte these and actual bad actors files that can't be easily erased is to use a utiliity called unlocker.exe. google it and use it with delight! [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum