# IE 6.0 - can't delete a (weird) folder

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424 "2003-07-05T19:15:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424/1 "2003-07-05T19:15:22Z")

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I was looking in the IE folder on my computer (running WinME & IE 6.0) and there’s a folder under the c:/windows/temporary internet files/Content.IE5 folder. I click on it and it tells me the folder contains 104 objects (some folders, some files, but all with weird names - all symbols and numbers, etc) and is 225Gb in size.

Pretty good considering I only have an 80Gb drive. When I try to delete it, I get a message telling me the folder is too big for the recycle bin and would I like to permanently delete it. I say yes and it tells me “Cannot find the specified file. Make sure you specify the correct path and filename”.

WTF?

If I click on an object in the right side of the window and check the properties, I get info telling me the file was created in 1601 (or some other bizarre year). I can’t delete or move any of the files without getting the above message.

I’ve tried deleting the files under Internet Options/Tools, but it doesn’t work. It also causes Window Washer to stop with the message “List index out of bounds”.

I’ve run Spybot, AdAware, and my anti-virus software, but nothing unusual shows up.

I am baffled.

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**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424/2 "2003-07-05T19:48:39Z")

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Sounds like a file system error. The first thing I would try would be to run ScanDisk or some similar utility.

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**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424/3 "2003-07-05T20:11:28Z")

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No, believe it or not, that’s by design. (Bad design, but yeah). See [here](http://sillydog.org/mshidden.html) for details.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424/4 "2003-07-05T21:54:19Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Nanoda \*  
> \*\*No, believe it or not, that’s by design. (Bad design, but yeah). See [here](http://sillydog.org/mshidden.html) for details. \*\*

I went to the site and tried the cleanup procedure and it worked!

Thanks!

One question: why does this happen? Why does it HAVE to happen?

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**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ie-6-0-cant-delete-a-weird-folder/186424/5 "2003-07-05T22:28:26Z")

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Doesn’t have to - MS just decided they’d make it like that. Same thing happens with Outlook, IIRC. Beats me!