Gary Day asks:
I have two old backups on my PC that I want to delete and create a new fresh one. I’ve been using Unlocker to delete the folders, but it’s extremely slow and getting them out of the Recycle Bin seems impossible.
Can anyone suggest a quicker way other than doing a complete clean install or format? I’m running Windows XP SP3.
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there are some utilities that include secure cleaning via right click menu
Iobit Advanced system Care
http://www.iobit.com/
Move On Boot
http://emcosoftware.com/move-on-boot
Hello, what kind of software did you use? or what software are you using for backing up? Most times and depending on the software you use, it will provide a way of deleting/making new backups/
Gary,
When you decide
that you need to delete an old backup set and start fresh, it is
recommended that you first open OneCare and start a new full backup. Let
it complete. Use the Restore function in OneCare to verify that you are
able to view the files and perhaps even restore a single file or
folder. Then navigate to the backup destination folder to delete the old
backups.
The easiest way
to perform this action in any version of Windows XP is to navigate to
the backup location, and right click on the folder set you wish to
remove, taking care to select the older backup set and not the one just
made.
In the right click menu, select Sharing and Security.
When the
Sharing and Security tab of the Properties dialog comes up, place a
check mark in the middle section – “Share this folder on the network.”
Give the Share a name in the box for “Share Name”.
And place a check mark in “allow network users to change files.”
Click OK.
Now, you should be able to delete the folder and the files within.
Or,
In My Computer, double-click the drive letter that corresponds to your hard disk.Right-click the Windows Live OneCare folder, and then click Properties.On the Security tab, under Groups or user names, click either Administrators or your user name.Next to Full Control, select the Allow check box, and then click Apply.In the Windows Live OneCare folder, select the backup set folder, and then press DELETE.
Or,
If you’re familiar with command prompt..
If
you have a folder on the E: drive called Windows OneCare Backup and the
folder in it is called “computer” and the backup set you want to delete
is within the “computer” folder, then do this (you must include the
quotes):
cacls “e:Windows OneCare Backupcomputer” /t /g administrators:F
So, the generic command line entry is -
cacls “:” /t /g administrators:F
where is where your backups are located, and is the complete folder path to the folder containing the backups you want to delete.
Do NOT put a after the path
Do use the quotes within the command
After pressing to submit the command a confirmation prompt appears, asking Yes or No. Choose Yes.
This will strip the permissions from the folder and should allow you to delete it.