I have a bit of a strange problem. About a day or 2 ago these clone "Documents" folders showed up randomly with no action from me. I tried deleting them and they keep saying "This action cannot be completed because this folder is open in another program. Close the folder and try again." It kept saying this even after I rebooted my laptop. I was being to get worried thinking that it might be a trojan so I ran my scanners. I have now run three scanners: Avast, Malwarebytes, and Spybot. Each came up with nothing. They all said that they there was no virus, trojan, or anything on my computer. My laptop is not being affected in any other way. My internet is fine. Everything thing seems to be in tip top shape except for these clone folders that I cannot delete. Does anyone know what the problem is? Thanks in advanced.
If it reappears when you load Windows normally, then it might not be a virus. It might be a program that's loading at start up. The reason it loaded in safe mode is because the folder(s) was already installed on the hard drive. You deleted it, but once you rebooted, the software that created it loaded it and put it back. It could be a backup folder to protect files for the program, or something of that nature. GGo back to safe mode, run msconfig, go to the startup tab, and disable every program from starting up by clearing all of the check boxes. Click apply to confirm it, restart the computer. If the folders have disappeared, then you know for sure it's a program causing the folders to appear. Then the problem is checking each box to confirm what program it is.
Thanks AnimatedFan! That worked! Thanks both of you fro helping me. I have another problem, though. It turned out the the program that was causing the clone folder to appear was my AIM. Now it seems that any time I try to start my AIM that clone "Documents" folder appears again. How do I fix this problem?
Actually, that documents folder for AIM is nothing bad. It's to hold files that get transferred to you from friends on your buddy list. All of the files get contained there, rather than spreading all over your main documents folder, or the hard drive itself. It shouldn't be so obtrusive though, unless you found it while digging through other files. Either way, it's not a virus, it's not a problem for the operation of Windows. It's just one other piece of programming that takes up a teeny, tiny bit of space on the hard drive. As long as it's empty, the resources it requires are less than negligible. You can always hide it if you like. Out of sight, out of mind. Open the window that you found it in. 1.) Right click the "clone" folder, click Properties in the menu that appears, 2.) At the very bottom of the window that pops up, click Hidden, then apply, then click ok, and it's no longer in your way. It'll still collect the files that get transferred to you, but you'll forget it's there.
havent touched AIM in like forever...but if its the same like my media player problem... easy fix, there could be a option in AIM where you can set where you want your d/l'd files to go. Maybe its currently set to your desktop (or where ever it is)
Another excellent option. Once you tell it to go to a folder of your choosing, you can delete the "clone" altogether, and it shouldn't make them reappear.
