How To Delete Broken URL in Favorites?

[CatBlue]

Hello, I hope this note finds everyone doing well. I am having a problem with my computer here at work. It runs Windows NT4, and uses Internet Explorer 6. My problem is a file that has turned up broken in my Favorites. I am changing PCs and I wanted to clean up/delete old folders in File Manager (I know -- very old school!) Unfortunately, every time I click on the folder to delete it File Manager will not let me. It gives me the error message "The system cannot find the file specified."

It is strange; you can still go to the website here:

http://www.aidsmeds.com/lessons/CBCpopup.htm

However, if you try to save it to Favorites (like I must have done a long time ago), the link is saved broken and you can neither open it again from Favorites or delete it. Further, this file has somehow turned up 3 times in 3 different places in my system, arrgh!

I called Microsoft support but alas, they were no help at all. They said since Windows NT is an "obsolete" program they can offer no support. I have downloaded all kinds of freeware and shareware that promised to search for and delete broken files, but they only do so for file extensions .lnk, not .url. I have spent hours on this and I am at my wits end! Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Kindest regards,
CatBlue

 

[Inaris]

here is a thought.
Open a command window. Change into the directory where your favorites are held. Default is C:\winnt\profiles\logonname\favorites
Then type- delete "filename.lnk" and see if that works.

Good luck

 

[CatBlue]

Thank you for your reply Inaris! Unfortunately, trying to do it at the DOS prompt did not work either. I got the message "The system cannot find the file specified." I think this is because of the way it was saved in Favorites. For some reason (and it must be a problem with that web page) it was saved with a BIG gap in the middle. It appears in File manager and in the command window like this:

CBC Test Definition .url

Actually, the space is so large that the .url appears on the second line. I have tried to rename it (removing the space) but it won't let me rename it either. So I cannot open it, rename it or delete it, what a pain!

I am open to all suggestions, thanks again.

 

[Win2kpatcher]

If you are switching to a new machine and are on a Domain simply rename your profile with .old then logon again and it will create a new profile folder for you. Then delete the old domain folder with the troubled file..if it even lets you do that! This is assuming you backed up all data you already need and no longer need to be any part of this machine.

 

[Inaris]

Use " " around the url name. That will take care of the file missing thing.
something else is to enable tab completion in NT. This is done in the registry by changing the following key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
Double click on the value CompletionChar
Make sure the base is Hexadecimal and then set the value to 9 and click OK
Close the registry editor
Start a new CMD.EXE session and the change will have taken effect
This way, you can type part of a file or folder name then then click tab and it will finish for you. with quotes. Very cool and will help you do what I suggested above.

Good luck

 

[CatBlue]

Hello again Inaris. It has taken a while for me to get back on line my computer is a mess. It stopped working for a day, finally got it back. I guess you could say one stupid file is the least of my problems.

You will have to bear with me, I am not a real techie! When you wrote add " " around the url is that in reference to re-naming the file so I can then delete it? When I am in file manager the file does appear with quotes around it "CBC Test Definition [huge space appears here] .url" I try to rename it also surrounded by quotes, but I still get the same error message "The system cannot find the file specified."

I ran regedit and looked at Command Processor. The base was indeed Hexadecimanl and I changed the value of CompletionChar to 9 (it was set to zero). When you say start a new CMD.EXE session I assumed you meant shut down and restart the machine, yes? I did so, then tried renaming the file again surrounded by quotes, but I still got the same error message. I guess I will live with it. As I mentioned before, I have brand new problems and I will make a new post for that.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Inaris]

do the following.
Start, run.
Type (without quotes: cmd.exe
click ok or start.
(The following is making a few assumptions, so if it doesn't work, post what you get on screen and I'll change it for you...)
in the new Command window, type: c:
press enter.
type: cd %userprofile%\favorites
press enter.
type: del CBC
press tab. This should complete the name for you. if not then you can't go forward from here. if it does, press enter. That should remove the file for you.

Let me know.

 

[Trotter]

CatBlue,

Follow this link and download AM-DeadLink 2.06:
http://aignes.com/deadlink.htm

From techsupportalert.com http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm:

Best Free Bookmark Cleaner
AM-DeadLink scans your bookmark file for dead links or duplicate links. When I tried it on my huge favorites file I discovered 17% of my links were dead. I've now got a much leaner set of favorites and the comfort of knowing that the links actually work. (546KB)

(You gotta love www.dailyrotation.com. So much good stuff, each and every day.)

 

[CatBlue]

Hello Inaris,

I've been out of town, but I wanted to let you know that I did take your advice and try to delete the broken link. I went to the DOS prompt with cmd.exe. The broken url is in two directories (H:\Favorites and H:\Data\Favorites) and I tried to delete it from both. I typed del CBC and pressed tab. Everything worked just as you said it would, the name of the file appeared. Unfortunately, it appeared with the huge space in the middle:

H:\Data\Favorites\Health\CBC Test Definition
.url

I'm not sure how this appears in my post, but there is a huge space between Definition and .url, so much so that .url appears on the second line (as if one pressed Enter and then spaced over), and it falls just underneath the letter n in the word Definition.

When I pressed enter, I just got the same old message, "Could not find H:\Data\Favorites\Health\CBC Test Definition
.url"

Trotter, thank you for input as well. I downloaded AM-Deadlink and ran it on my bookmarks. It is a GREAT free download, it cleaned up *a lot*of dead links. However, I noticed that when AM Deadlink began checking the bookmarks that darn CBC site did not even show up on the list. So when I go to Internet Explorer and click on Favorites *it is still there.* Unbelievable! It is the world's MOST BROKEN link/url ever!

I just wanted to say thanks to you both for your ideas, I really appreciated your efforts. My kindest regards!

 

[Inaris]

What format are you using? Fat32 or NTFS?