Problem deleting folder in Windows Explorer

[Woko]

Hi there. I have an empty folder titled <Computer & Mobile Phone>. I'd like to delete this folder but, so far at least, am unable to do so. When I delete it the folder disappears but then reappears next time I reboot my computer. I've even renamed the folder & pressed delete but, alas, with the same result.
Can anyone suggest how I might get rid of this pesky critter?

 

[mitchell65]

Hi Woko and welcome to the Forum.
Try "Unlocker". This has solved the problem for others before.
Unlocker Download

 

[Woko]

Thanks for that, Mitchell. I'm currently trying Unlocker & have got to but none of the buttons lead me to the Unlocker download. Not that I can see anyway.

 

[mitchell65]

That link is a bit confusing - try this one instead:
Download Unlocker 1.9.2 - Change Log - FileHippo.com
and click on where I have marked in red in this screenshot

 

[Woko]

That worked! I rebooted & for the first time the folder was gone. Thanks, Mitchell. No wonder you're a Gold Member!

 

[mitchell65]

Glad it worked for you and thanks for coming back.

 

[Woko]

Oooooops! When I rebooted my computer today there it was again. The pesky folder seems to have spent most of last night lurking somewhere to the rear of my computer before surreptitiously reinserting itself prior to my rebooting today.

Today I again deleted the folder using Unlocker then rebooted my computer. The folder was again no longer visible in Windows Explorer. I then went into Recycle Bin & used Shift-Delete to, I hope, permanently delete all instances of this folder.

I await tomorrow's dawn to see if this folder's resurrection capability is still intact.

 

[mitchell65]

Out of interest did you create this folder or did it just appear, if it just appeared when did you first notice it? Another point, what A/V have you installed and is it up to date?

 

[Callender]

It could be that the folder location has been set as the default "save to" location for some app that you have installed.

See examples of deleted folders reappearing:

WMP - http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...ted-desktop-keeps-coming-back-days-later.html

Scanner - http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...p-folder-keeps-reappearing-2.html#post2730165

In both cases the deleted folders were recreated on next boot by the applications.

 

[Woko]

Hi Mitchell. I created the folder in 2013 using Microsoft Word 10. On 3/7/13 I moved all the files from the folder to a folder with a slightly different name & deleted the original folder. It was some months later that I noted that the original folder had reappeared. Since then I've made various desultory attempts to permanently delete the original folder but each time the original folder reappeared. Recently I made an all out assault on it which led me to the Windows 7 Forum.

I have Norton 360 & I updated 2 days ago. It's still up to date.

Callender, it was interesting to read about folders which were designated in certain applications as locations to which files are saved. I'm confident, however, that this isn't the case in my situation. The offending folder is called Computer & Mobile Phone (& the folder meant to replace it is called Computers & Mobile Phones). I can't for the life of me think why I would have made either of them the save location for some programme. (Still, my memory has been known to fail me at times! ). Nevertheless, this explanation for the rerereappearance of the original folder seems reasonable so I'll tuck it away in my hump.

Thank you both for your responses.

Oh, by the way, the original folder had returned when I booted my computer today. My latest attempt to outwit the folder is to cut it from My Documents & paste it into my Temp folder in My Documents. I'll see how that goes.

 

[mitchell65]

How about trying the Ubuntu approach. Try this. Download Linux Ubutu from here. Burn the iso to a disc. Set your BIOS to boot from the disc and choose to trial Ubuntu not install. You can then run Ubuntu from the disc without installing anything on your PC. It takes a bit of time to load up from the disc but when you get the Ubuntu desktop you can navigate to your hard drive and locate the the offending folder. Delete it in Ubuntu the shut down completely; again it takes a little while. Re boot to Windows and check!

 

[Woko]

Yesterday I

• moved the folder to my Temp folder which is in D:\My Documents
• went into the folder's properties & removed the Read Only Attribute & indexing of contents
• permanently deleted the folder from Temp
• cold booted my computer

The result was that the folder was no longer in Temp but this morning it was back in My Documents. My admiration for this folder's persistence increases daily.

I also noticed that the Read Only Attribute & indexing of contents are on.

 

[Woko]

Thanks for that idea, Mitchell. I'll give it some thought while I'm doing something else that's come up.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Deleting the folder does not seem to be a problem. Unlocker can delete the folder.

The problem is...
...finding what app is creating the folder again and again.

Does Unlocker tell you what app or apps have the folder locked?