I am trying to fix a computer that had a lot of virus or malware on it.
Operating system is Vista
It has 10000 + video files on it in a directory that does not show up
When I search for the files they show up
If I try to delete them I get the message
"File no longer located in C:\Users\A\!. Verify the the item(s) location and try again"
Any help here would be appreciated.

How are you looking for the missing directory? and what did it represent?

That many video clips would on average take up around 80 to 100 gigs of space if they were just 2 minutes long. That represents to me a partition or another harddrive (as in removable storage). Maybe the files you are searching for are actually on a different drive and in your search you are finding traces of the played videos in DAT, temp files or even stored in photo applications such as editing programs.

Normally viruses and trojans don't corrupt personal data files such as videos and documents as they are there to wreck havoc on the operating system's system files and applications.

You might try a recovery program in case they were deleteted

Hello,

I looked for the missing directory in My Computer then C drive

The Video clips are one second long.

I did not download them They just appeared after my daughter was on the computer for about 2-3 hours.

Computer is only one week old. I had just set it up for internet. I did not know about any kind of safeguards.

And according to the program my friend told me about at work, most of my hard drive is used with these files.

What is a recovery program and would that help in this case?

Thanks Mari

1 sec video files...and your computer is full of them because an unknown program some friend told you about says that they are. You search for them and find them but when you try to deletre them they can't be found.

I think that I would look for a anti-virus program and run it in safe mode to get rid of anything it finds installed. I would also suspect that un-named program that finds 10,000 1 sec. vid files.

Your computer is not very old and as such...I would just reformat and reinstall. A sure fire way to make sure those files are gone! Use the recovery program built in to your computer program files...usually under the computer manufacturer's name.

I have to question the act that you don't know about internet prevention but you know enough about computers to be able to search and hunt for files through "My Computer" and can trace search pathes....Just seems very strange to me!

I agree with lurkswithin, format and re-install. It will probably take you less time and it's the only way to be positive there is no trace of any malware left. Just put in the recovery disc the computer came with, turn it on and choose format and re-install.

Side note- I have heard of virus's that store files like these then serve them from your computer. The reason for someone wanting to do this is either bandwidth and or illegal content. Could be a very serious problem, not just some files taking up space.

Lurkswithin

The program was defragment files under system tools.

He had me install Spy Bot which found 198 bad files (I think it was files) and some critical issues (did not write this down). However the video files were not deleted using this program. I ran full scan.

He also told me about searching for files on my computer. I take great detailed notes about everything (usually) so that I don't have to ask the same questions over and over again. Then I create cards with headings on a 3x5 index card and file them.

When I typed my other response I did not have my notes that is why I could not detail the program I used (or remember the anti virus program name)

I really don't know that much about my computer. My grandchildren know way more than I do about computers, the youngest is 8 and his class has 10 computers! He does something called power point presentations, he is going to show me (never too old to learn). But no one had any answer for these files so I went to the internet for help. I appreciate your suggestion and will look for the recovery program and or disk.

This is the first computer that is mine. I have always used the library or relatives computer. I suppose I should have let someone else set it up for me, but I wanted to do it.

Thank you again, Mari


Squirrelnmoose

Thank you also for responding. I still have everything that came with the computer in the garage. I will wait for my son to get it down from storage and will look for the disk(s).

I do not understand the "serve them from your computer" but I will ask around. And I did not want to get censored but some of the names on these files are very questionable.

Thank you!! Mari

Mari!,
Thanks for the xplanation but wasn't really that big of deal....just my way of letting people know that I do read and comprehend the questions and answer issues.

Spybot is a good tool and should have been anle to locate any bad files and remove them

Defragging the drive doesn't remove or help repair damaged files. It just resorts misplaced files back to the order of where they should have been and links them to like files for easier requesting.

I personally have never heard of these types of files and that is why I questioned them. SquirrellandMoose apparently has

There may be several causes for this problem, one I know of is that a file gets created that has the dot between filename and extension but no extension, and or, it is a zero byte file, so in Windows Explorer the file type displays as “File” and the long file name shows the dot but no file extension and zero bytes. To delete these files follow these steps:

1. Open an command prompt
2. Navigate to the folder where the files are located
3. Run this DOS command: dir /a /x /p
4. You will get a listing of files including the 8.3 file names
5. Delete the file files using the [8.3] file name, example:, leave off
the [ ] brackets:
6. [del INBILLB~1] or [del VSXBUI~2.txt]
7. Sometime you can simply try [del *.*] and delete all of the file

ty ty ty ty ty ty ty!!!!!!!!

Hi, I have a similar problem, but let's say that I don't want to delete the video file, at least not yet, I just want to back it up, but the program wont do it since the file generate a meesage of no longer located in.

Actually the problem is with three folders, each one with a part of Pirates of the Caribbean, I can copy the Subs folder, some sample vid, but the vid per se no, even if I rename it to i.e. 1.mp4, it continue not finding it, but funny thing, it can be played and it's perfect but it can't be moved, deleted (I guess, not want to try), or copied into another place on the computer.

I checked all the properties of the file, and I found nothing out of the ordinary. Is there any particular reason for which some files will prompt for that error? Are they protected somehow?

I have more than 10 movies (from the same source) with the same file extention and subfolders, but only this one have this problem.