I've searched the forums and haven't found this problem yet. I have Windows XP.

Here's the deal: I decided to uninstall Limewire from my PC. After all was said and done, I'm left with a folder on my desktop named ".limewire", which contains a "limewire shared" folder, which contains the shortcut icons of anything new I put on my PC!

When I try to delete it, I get a message that reads, ".limewire is a Windows system folder and is required for Windows to run properly. It cannot be deleted." Nasty.

So... when I originally uninstalled LW, I used Add/Remove Programs. Found out that wasn't supposed to be the way to completely remove LW, so I REinstalled it and uninstalled it again with the LW uninstaller. SAME RESULT. Folder is still there.

I've looked everywhere I know to look to figure this out, but I can't; and I'm not happy at ALL that this is a "Windows system folder" that cannot be deleted. And I'm even LESS happy that my partner who works for the government uses a homeload - and the shortcut icons for THAT are in the folder.

I've scanned my system with Ad Aware, Spybot, Norton, and HouseCall. Nothing. Clean as a whistle.

Will you please tell me how to get rid of this thing?

Thanks.

Have you already tried to remove this by using your commandt-prompt? If you don't know how to use this let me know, maybe I can help.

Good luck.

Yeah, see, I really don't know how to do that. I was thinking that I would have to do it like that so that whatever it's "connected" to isn't running. If you can give me some guidance, I'd really appreciate it.

ok, here we go...

First, it's the best way to print this text, for best results it's better to shut down your internetbrowser during this progress.
Second, I've typed it out all the way, read it first. Even when you are unexperienced you can do the trick, but it has become quite a long story this way, so again, print the text for your own comfort and read it carefully.
Third and last, do exactly as I've told and type exactly as I have typed, including spacebars etc.

Good luck!

Now, close al your programs, including your internetbrowser and possible firewalls, viruscanners etc.

Then navigate to the folder where .limewire is located, I imagine it is in your "documents and settings\user" folder (default). Create a new folder in your "Documents and settings\user" folder, here in my example I called it: "delete"

Now drag and drop your ".limewire" folder in this "delete" folder

Now, open a command-prompt ( Start > execute > then type "cmd" in the execute window).

You now see a black window with a text like: C:\> when C:\ is your harddrive
It's also possible that you are now already in the C:\Documents and settings\user> folder, this will save you some time. If you are in another folder (like C:\>) do the following:

Now navigate to the folder where your .limewire folder is located. You can do this by typing:

cd documents and settings (press enter)

You will now see the C:\> is changed in C:\documents and settings>

now, type:

cd user (press enter)

C:\documents and settings\user> is what you see

again, type:

cmd delete (press enter)

You are now in the C:\documents and settings\user\delete> folder

Now, leave the command-prompt window open, so DO NOT minimize it, and press CTRL+ALT+DEL for your Windows Task Manager, go to processes and find the explorer.exe process, select this process by clicking once, then end te process. by pressing the end process button in your Tas manager. (Almost everything from your desktop will disapear now).

Now press ALT+TAB to go back to the command prompt.

If everything worked out well, it will still be in this folder: C:\Documents and settings\user\delete>

now press: del *.* (press enter) (there is a space between the "del and *)

You must confirm your action by pressing Y or N and confirm with enter. everything within the self-created delete folder will now be deleted, so make sure there was only the .limewire folder in it!

Now press ALT+TAB again. (You're now again in your Windows task manager, go to File>new task and type:

explorer.exe (confirm with enter)

Your Desktop will appear again.

(You can close the command-prompt now)

In windows, got to the "C:\Documents and settings\user" folder, check what's in the "delete" folder. It has to be empty now. If this is right you can delete the "delete" folder by right-clicking on it, choose delete.

Good luck!

I did what you suggested, and it did remove the folder from the Documents and Settings\user... folder. After I did all that, I did a search and found it (.limewire\limewire shared) in the Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data folder.

I did the same process as before (moved it to a folder named delete, etc.), and it won't delete. I can delete the .limewire folder, but limewire shared won't delete. Again, it's because it's a "system folder". Any other ideas?

By the way, thank you very much for taking the time to type all that out for me. I really appreciate that.

Another tidbit... Whenever a new shortcut is created for the desktop, the icon shows up in the limewire shared folder instead of the Desktop folder in Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data folder. I can, however, move the shortcut icon from the limewire shared folder to the Desktop folder without any problems.

Is there something I can "re-wire" to make the system stop moving the shortcuts to the limewire shared folder and move them instead to the proper Desktop folder? Maybe that will solve the problem.

Hi yoyogrrrl

My question is do you have administrative priviliges for the account you are doing this from. If so try this.

Shut down your comp, and start in safe mode. Try deleteing the file while in safe mode. Then restart comp. normally.

Another suggestion would be to insert your XP cd and try a repair of the mbr (stands for master boot record).

Best of luck

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WindowsXP MCE sp2
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First of all - a big THANK YOU to SifiOn and Fabion for your input. I'm very impressed by your willingness to help.

I think I may have figured it out.

Under Documents and Settings, I have three User folders: All Users, Default Users, and a Named User.

I couldn't understand why desktop shortcuts would go into the limewire shared folder under the Named User, and I couldn't understand why the shortcuts disappeared from the desktop if I deleted them from the limewire shared folder.

So I looked in the other user folders (All Users, Default User) and found the Desktop folders. In "All Users", the icons for all the current desktop shortcuts were in there. In "Default User", only one icon was in there. In Named User, there was NO Desktop folder. So... I concluded that the Desktop folder was either renamed to or replaced by "limewire shared".

I renamed the "limewire shared" folder to "Desktop" and tweaked the Properties so that it will be shared by all users. I then tweaked the "All Users" Desktop folder so that it also will be shared by everyone. It seems to have worked. I've created a couple of shortcuts, and they appear in the Named User Desktop folder AND on the desktop itself, which is how it should be.

How did that happen? Not sure. But I have a strong suspicion that it was a stupid little XP thing that removed "rarely used" Desktop shortcuts in order to free up disk space. How the Desktop folder in the Named User branch got to be "limewire shared", though, is still a mystery to me.

You're welcome yoyogrrrl.
Glad it worked out for you in the end.

See you!