Cannot delete/copy/move .MOV files

[Beckinsale]

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I have a Sony Camera. I had some videos in it. To backup the same I copied them in my computer. It is a Windows Vista PC. Now everything went well. The data was around 1.5GB which copied well. I created a DVD out of those Videos. All files are kept on my desktop inside a folder. Now when I try to delete those files my PC freezes. I have to restart that forcefully. It does not respond at all. The same things happen when I right click on the files to view the size. I do not understand why this is happening. Things were working quiet fine last week, but the time I had used the camera it started giving me problem. When open the folder, the green bar which keeps on moving very slowly at the top. It does not completes. I had tried a number of things to make it work, but nothing happens. What should I do to get rid of this files.

[Andrzejewski]

First how you are trying to delete them. By right click > Delete or by choosing the file from mouse and hitting delete button from keyboard. It looks that you do not have the file permission to delete them, because of which the system freezes. Are you logged in as Admin. Try to gain file permission first. In Vista you just need to right click and choose Take Ownership. That's all. Then you can make changes to the files. If still the problem appears try to do the same in Safe Mode. That will help you more.

[Judy B]

I too agree with the same. Looks like a clear issue of file permission. You have to take the file ownership to delete them. Check that your account has admin rights or not. Copied is allowed, but you cannot modify or delete files without appropriate permission. In Vista when you open the folder, the OS tries to make Video Thumbnails. This takes time if there is no proper codec or if the existing codec is crashed. When you open the file folder go to the top right menu and click on List from there.

[Patton]

If you do not want those files, then instead of deleting it, press Shift + Delete. It will permanently delete the file and also takes a very less time. If you try to press Right Click and follow the regular format, it takes time or puts a bit loads on the system to generate thumbnails of those heavy files. You can also do that through cmd. I am not sure about the commands but you can find them well on web. Second thing if you had Quicktime installed in your computer removed it for temporary basis. Or any other video player, as it tries to access the file.

[Borgnine]

I am too dealing the similar issue on some .mov files. This files normally work on Quicktime. As you said in the title that you are not able to get rid of those files, remove Quicktime. I have a Kodak camera and I copied videos from them. After copying the icon changed to Quicktime and when I double click on them they play by default in Quicktime. That is the best way to work on the same. Vista is a bit useless operating system according to me. I had work on various video editing stuff in Windows XP and never face such issues. I thought Vista will give a bit boost in system performance. That is the reason I started keeping a 40GB empty partition in my computer. I move all of my files to that folder only and when I do not need them I format the partition. There is no file permission issue appear while formatting. For you I will advice you to install some new codecs. The issue also be associated to improper or broken codec in your system. Another thing, VistaCodec are some what cause of this issue. You have to disable the mov thumbnail settings to delete the file. It is usually located in Program Files > VistaCodecs. In the folder you can find a settings application that you have to run in Administrator account. In that click on Mov > and click on Disable Thumbnails. That all, now you can get rid of those files.

[Gregoryl]

Thanks a lot. The VistaCodec thing worked for me. I was quiet annoyed with those mov files. I thought this issue appear because of virus. I was planing to format my computer to make it a bit more better. But after making the changes in settings of VistaCodec thing went back to normal.

[shawntae]

Now there are some workout that can help you out for removing such files. First check that the files are not located in many folders. The deep path makes the file unaccessible for any action. Second you must also ensure that the your account has appropriate right to make changes in that file. Last thing the file source must be used by any application. Many video convertor are cause of this. I use one which by default use my desktop folder. I cannot remove files from that unless I quit the program completely.

[LeeRoy.]

Hi Guys, just to update you, finally I found a way to solve it
Do you have error messages?, like :

* Path too long
* Error cannot delete file: cannot read from source file or disk
* Cannot delete file: Access is denied
* There has been a sharing violation.
* Cannot delete file or folder The file name you specified is not valid or too long. Specify a different file name.

For that I tried it with:longpathtool