I can't delete a .dll?

Question

Ok so I've tried everything I could try (ending explorer.exe, trying CMD, and even using some programs to help, safe mode too). So right now I cannot delete this dll I have. Ill give you the warning message.

Cannot delete crappy: Access is Denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Yes it is called crappy because I thought renaming it would help.

This DLL was part of my old firewall (which i deleted yesterday because it caused internet problems and wouldent open)

Also for a note to put in, i've tried using another firewall to block this but it failed.

Answer 1

get the task manager pressing ctrl+alt+del keys together then go to the process tab. find the particular dll there....select the dll file.....and end the task......then delete it....it'll work..... if doesn't.......try deleting it using some other OS.....

Answer 2

It's probably in use. The first thing you should have done is do an uninstall of the firewall, you said you deleted it. That doesn't remove the registry entrys that tell windows to load drivers and dll's. Try that, but don't expect it to work now if you deleted the files or folder.
If your comfortable with doing some detective work in the registry, here's what you do, AFTER you make sure system restore is turned on so you can restore your registry if something goes wrong.
Start REGEDIT from the run tab on the start bar. Make sure the cursor is coloring "my computer". From the edit menu bar, select FIND. Fill in the name of the file your looking for and enter to search. There will be a couple places at least ( to continue search) it's called from. Move to the right window, select it, and delete the key. You will get a serious looking warning, but if this is as anocuous as you say, no problem. OK, you have all references of this nasty little pest remove from the registry. You not done. See if it's parent program is still being told to start up. This is in the system information application under system tools. Look on the startup tab. Disable the application if it is. Ok. Reboot and see if that did it. If not, now we get serious. You need to make a DOS bootdisk. Then, reboot to the DOS screen ( C:/> ). Move to the directory the file is in. This is an example of the DOS command to Change Directories {cd\windows\system }.
Now that your there, type ATTRIB [your filename] this will, show you what file attributes it has. If you could not delete or rename it, ONE of it's attribute is set to read only. Now, type ATTRIB -r [your filename] (no brackets). This removes the read only attribute. You may now type DEL [your filename] and it will be gone!
WARNING ! Don't do this unless your comfortable with it and understand the ramifications.
All said and done, unless you've left something out of your description, the pest should be gone.
Happy computing!

Answer 3

Make sure it's not flagged read-only, system etc first- I assume you've already done that.

So, either boot from a CD, or.... (probably more hassle than it's worth):

Disconnect your hard drive, slave it to another drive with Win2K/XP installed (or put it in an external enclosure and access it via USB cable) and then delete the file. As long as you boot from a DIFFERENT drive, you'll be able to delete any files you like.

Answer 4

It may be because the file is acutally in use. You can try to boot to safe mode and if it is not in use you should be able to delete it.