How to remove a Program Files folder? Receiving ACCESS DENIED message.

Good morning everyone,

 My inquiry is regarding how to remove a folder from C:\Program Files when I continue receiving an "Access Denied" message.

Problem Description:

All actions described here were performed while logged in under my Windows Default Administrator account.
Yesterday evening (3/23), I downloaded & installed a temperature/fan speed monitoring application called, SpeedFan. After looking through the program for about 20 minutes, I closed it and went to run the Speccy program on my machine.

On all but two of the system specification items there was a red error message displayed which read, “Cannot initialize spc.dll.” I then uninstalled the SpeedFan program via the Add/Remove Programs option in the Control Panel.

I tried running Speccy again with the same error messages being shown. I uninstalled the Speccy program via Add/Remove Programs option, then went to delete the Speccy folder in C:\Program Files. A dialog box opened advising me that removing the folder might cause some programs not to function properly and asked if I wanted to proceed. I clicked <CONTINUE>. I received the Access Denied message yet again.

I then went to the Piriform website and downloaded the Speccy program again. When I ran the program, once again the same aforementioned error messages appeared.

I ran quick scans with both Avast! (free), MBAM Pro, & SAS. All scans were clean.

My question:

How can I remove the Speccy folder from C:\Program Files in this situation?

Thank you for your time and any recommendations! :slight_smile:

I would suggest a uninstaller:
www.revouninstaller.com/

Thanks very much for the feedback, True Indian!

Your welcome! if that doesnt work u can use file assasin that is in built in malwarebytes to take out the files in the folder and then clear the folder

Have you tried going into Safe Mode and doing a search for Speccy (All files and folders > Advanced Options and Hidden Folders)? There was a problem in the past according to the Piriform forum where the uninstallation for 32-bit had a problem. Revo may work. CCleaner may also get rid of remnants (both done in regular mode). But searching for things you can do in Safe Mode to be sure. You can also contact Piriform in their forum and ask there as well.

I appreciate the additional info, SafeSurf!

 I do already have CCleaner  installed.  I have also posted in the Piriform Forum about a half hour ago.  Maybe someone there will recall the problem you mentioned and what the remedy was.  I also emailed Alfredo [i](at SpeedFan)[/i] about the issue.  Part of his response was to let the Piriform folks know about the problem too.

(For True Indian)

Thanks for the reminder about MBAM’s File Assassin. I’d completely forgotten about that possibility…mainly because this is the first time I can recall ever having this type problem.

Best regards to you both! ;D

When you uninstalled SpeedFan did you reboot as that is usually when program folders are removed.

I would also suggest that when trying or using these types of utility SpeedFan and Speccy, etc. that you look for stand alone versions that don’t require installation, but just have a single executable file. There was one for Speccy if I remember rightly and possibly one for SpeedFan too if you search.

Hi David and thanks very much for your recommendations!

 I didn't reboot until perhaps 20 minutes after uninstalling SpeedFan.  I concur with your idea regarding using a standalone product.  During my online search, I noticed a couple of those temp/fan speed applications which had the single executable file and others which had like 5 or 6 files in the download.

I’m definitely one for simplicity…as much as possible.

Best regards!

Greetings again everyone,

 Just a note to mention the issue I presented has been [b]resolved[/b]!

Going to C:\Program Files\Speccy, I noticed 3 files in the folder, one of which was the Speccy uninstall.exe file. I double-clicked it to run, and lo and behold, it removed the folder with all 3 files in it.

I went back to Piriform.com and re-downloaded Speccy. The program now runs at it did prior to the incident with SpeedFan. Guess it’s probably best to simply stay away from any of those temp/fan speed applications altogether - - at least in my case!

Many thanks to everyone for your respective contributions in helping resolve the issue I presented! ;D

You’re welcome.

For the most part the SpeedFan is a specialist tool only used if you want to test/check fan speeds and or temperatures if you feel there is a heat problem.

There are other standalone tools that will cover than and much more, plus they are stand alone. Hardware Monitor from the CPUID people, http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor/versions-history.html, choose the .zip, no installation version. Software Information for Windows (SIW), this one will fire the autosandbox, but can be allowed to run normally.