Ever get this message while trying to delete a file?

Error deleting file
Cannot read from file or disc.

Well i figured out how to solve it today.
2 months ago i downloaded a file torrent named Chaos.It added a file in my docs named Chaos with no file extension.
Well i assumed i could just get rid of it by deleting the file.Right click delete...uh uhh.
The problem is Windows see's files with no extensions as not there usually because they have a "dot" right after the file name..So you can not delete nor rename them.So i opened the command prompt and tried to delete the file that way.No luck.
A friend of mine told me that if i type the command this way...
del "\\?\C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner.FAMILY-ROOM\RestOfDirectoryStructureToFile\fileName.
and then hit enter that would work.I tried that and it didn't.It would have if the file had a "dot" at the end but this one didn't.
So i got to thinking...maybe if i hi-light the name of the file (right click /rename), i can get a better idea of what is in the characters.Come to find out the file name was Chaos and then a space after.
So i opened cmd prompt again and typed
del "\\?\C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner.FAMILY-ROOM\Desktop\FDM\Chaos and then a space hit enter, and vuala...Windows deleted the file.
So if you ever run into this problem use this command and either a space or a dot at the end of the file name.
Depending on how the culprit file is named.

Process of elimination and persistence= 1 happy gimper. Cool. That's the way to do it.

I bet renaming the file to delete the trailing space (or other unsavory characters) would also have worked. I've done that a few times.

Erasing with a joker should also work: "del Chaos*"

If you use Command Line often, I have been using a really handy program that makes life a lot easier.


Clickie is a handy utility that will add 2 new features to the context menu (right click) of Windows Explorer: 1/ copy path name & 2/ open command window in selected directory.



Sure saves a lot of typing. Can be found at: http://www.defoort.com/en/clickie

Microsoft has downloadable for free a "power tool" called "CmdWindowHere" that does the same thing.

And if you drag a file from the explorer to an open command prompt, it pastes the file path/name in the input line.