Deleted files still showing up when I do a Search

[CathodeRay]

We're re-installing some software that is causing us problems... We've deleted several folders, AND emptied the Recycle Bin... and we are showing all hidden files and we are not hiding operating system files...

But when we do a Search for some of the filenames just to make sure we deleted everything we wanted to delete, some of the deleted files are still showing up in the Search results.

It is important to us to make sure these files are really, really gone.

Any idea why they would still be showing up in the Search when they're not showing up in Folders in Explorer? How can we "really" delete them?

 

[CathodeRay]

Incidentally, none of the deleted files that show up in my Search results have a drive letter associated with them... they all just start with, i.e. Program Files\programname, or ABC Folder\abcsubfolder... no drive letters.

 

[ShackDaddy]

My guess is that the files are actually only being found in a search index, not on the disk. Also, are there actually any files showing up in the search, or is it just folders?

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[CathodeRay]

THANK YOU for your reply... we are working on this as I write and we're still stumped.

I concur with your thought about the search index... and yes, there ARE file names showing up.

How can we clean out the search index?

 

[CathodeRay]

BTW, this is Windows SBS 2003

 

[ShackDaddy]

Here's a tool that you can use to examine your search indexes and clear them:

http://www.filedudes.com/files/Delete_Index.html

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[CathodeRay]

Thanks... just to confirm... you're talking about Index.dat Analyzer 2.0?

 

[CathodeRay]

I think I got it figured out.... the files we were seeing were contained in a compressed fle... using a (truly) free compresion utility. Sheeesh.... I don't think I've ever noticed that before with WinZip...

Thanks for the link to the utilities... will come in handy.