Downloaded file causes the explorer.exe to load forever

finalfantasy · 28 Oct 2015

I downloaded a song that i bought since i needed it in pure wav format for the lossless quality for djing purposes.
However, I cant do anything with it now. As soon as i navigate the windows explorer to the folder where the file is (Downloads), it starts to load forever and, in task manager, it starts consuming more and more CPU time by the second and same is for the amount of read bytes. It goes on forever as far as going from 00:00:01 in CPU time to 01:00:00 and continues.

Now i dont know what to do since the actual existence of the file slows everything down and not just opening it. I can't open it, I can't rename it, move it, remove it, anything around it. As soon as i get to the folder that the file is, everything goes to hell. Only way to stop the load is to close the exporer.exe process and start it again. Just closing the folder isnt enough since the process doesnt stop loading after that unless its restarted.

I have tried the following with no success:
Scan with Malwarebytes. Found nothing.
Defragment with Piriform Defraggler. No change.
Check disk. No errors.

Does anyone have an idea on what i should do? I really don't want to reinstall the whole operating system because the pc is a domain pc and i dont have the permission to make such changes to the system.
I just got a new idea on what i should try: boot into safe mode and try to remove it there. But in the meantime the problem still exists so any suggestions are highly appreciated.

MilesAhead · 28 Oct 2015

Have you tried deleting it from the command prompt?

Also you could try uploading it to VirusTotal.com to scan for infection. If it is DRM protected it could be the DRM has gone wacky.

cyclops · 28 Oct 2015

First thing you might want to do is find a better source for downloading from. Like MilesAhead says, you may be stuck deleting it via command prompt.

finalfantasy · 28 Oct 2015

MilesAhead said:

Have you tried deleting it from the command prompt?

Heh, this actually worked. It deleted the file without any issues and now i can open the Downloads folder without any issues. Thanks alot. You saved me alot of pain.

EDIT: I downloaded a flac version of the song instead of wav. The flac version causes no issues. I just had to waste another 2€ but i guess it was worth it.