Permanently removing some windows program folders without respawning?

[nukesgoboom]

i was able to find out about a program called unlocker which would allow me to delete things that programs were 'holding onto' even if they weren't really.

Now unlocker works great, but when i delete a folder that windows claims to be using and it really isnt, the folder is deleted UNTIL i restart windows. Then it respawns. the respawned folder is empty, which is good, however it keeps comming back which is very annoying to me. i like to keep a organized computer as well as tidy so this bothers me.

the biggest examples of my problem are useless folders that have done nothing since windows xp was installed, all in C:\Program Files

xerox
internet explorer
Microsoft ActiveSync
microsoft frontpage
movie maker
msn gaming zone
netmeeting
outlook express
windows nt
xerox


nearly all of these folders are 0 bytes in size. i dont understand why these folders keep respawning. which service of windows keeps respawning it? i have deleted these folders in safe mode, but they still respawn anyway on the next reboot. is there anyway to permanently delete them so they dont come back?

thank you for your time.

[jeffy]

Due to Windows File Protection (WFP):
http://gemal.dk/blog/2003/09/03/really_remove_netmeeting/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=folders+reappear+after+delete+xerox&btnG=Google+Search

[foxyshadis]

The blank file method is what I always do now, simple and saves a lot of time. The first method I used involved hex editing either csrss.exe or winlogin.exe (I forget which one spawns the folders) to patch the behavior, but all it takes to undo that is a windows update. One install using nlite never had such behavior, it must have been part of some drivers or services that I completely removed. Wierd!

[GrofLuigi]

An empty dll is the solution (http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=empty+sfcfiles.dll&btnG=Search) :)
But you also leave your system without ANY protection.

GL

[nukesgoboom]

whoa it seems a ton of people also had this problem. i thought i was the only person who cared about it LOL. Thanks to you guys for replying to me and helping me. here is what i found so far from other people:



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.




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.







Windows 2000 and XP include a feature called Windows File Protection (WFP), part of the System File Checker, which is intended to avoid some of the common DLL consistency issues. This feature may also block valid attempts to change system files and it can therefore be disabled using this tweak.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Change the value of "SFCDisable" to equal "ffffff9d" to disable WFS or "0" to enable it. The other valid hexadecimal values are:

# 1 - disabled, prompt at boot to re-enable
# 2 - disabled at next boot only, no prompt to re-enable
# 4 - enabled, with popups disabled
# ffffff9d - for completely disabled

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Additional Steps for Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 and Windows XP
This setting is disabled in Windows 2000 SP2 and Windows XP, and needs to re-enabled using a hex editor and changing SFC.DLL (or SFC_OS.DLL for Windows XP) following these instructions:

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.






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






I've managed to get rid of a bunch of these annoying things with some real heavy artillery... I mount my windows xp drive in linux with the experimental ntfs read/write driver and delete them from there. Windows File Protection can't save you now! hahaha! Anyone who wants to do neat things like this could just get one of the "live-on-cd" linux distributions (www.knoppix.com). You don't even need to install linux permenantly.

[wOxxOm]

To remove the folders in question permanently without spoofing with plain files in their place just (1) turn off sfc via its registry key(*) and (2) remove the system32\sfcfiles.dll (also in dllcache). Additionaly I renamed c:\WINDOWS\security folder, however I doubt it matters.

*[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "SFCDisable" = DWORD:0xffffff9d

[HyperHacker]

That only works on 2000 SP1, IIRC. To enable it on later versions you need to do some magic with a hex editor.

[GrofLuigi]

That only works on 2000 SP1, IIRC. To enable it on later versions you need to do some magic with a hex editor.
Like THIS (http://www3.sympatico.ca/lazimute/patches.htm), for instance. Not recommended to inexperienced, of course. :)

GL

[wOxxOm]

That only works on 2000 SP1, IIRC. To enable it on later versions you need to do some magic with a hex editor.
I made no hex edits, only the mentioned 2 steps. XPsp2en.pro

p.s. Just found today that installing of hardware requires sfcfiles.dll, so I've moved it temporarily back and everything went fine.