Open a command prompt. Use the CD command to change to the folder
e.g.
CD \MyFolder
(\ means root e.g. C:\ is root for C: drive)
Type DIR to list files in the folder, try the DEL command to delete files. e.g. DEL AFile
 

sorry not quite with you
 
is it cd/then the folders name
 
then after that im not too sure of. i want to delete the whle folder if possible. and when i type DIR it just closes it
 
 

The folder may actually have been created by your webcam software and subsequently got corrupted. Since you are having trouble with using the old DOS commands, you could try Unlocker 1.8.5 found here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4660
 
Install it through Windows Explorer and see if it can delete the folder. (It will add a menu choice through Windows Explorer when you right click on a file or folder.

i tried it but as soon as u right click the folder it closes the window...
however i tried to do a norton anti virus scan it did it completely but it failed to scan that one folder. is it possibl a virus?

Ok. Let's do it the hard way as peterh suggested. What you will want to do is first look at where this folder is located and exactly how it is spelled. In other words, in Widows Explorer, it was under the Windows folder as Wontdelete.tmp - then that tells us where it is hierarchically. You are going to have to try to delete this folder through the DOS like prompt. In this case in DOS, this folder would look like C:\Windows\Wontdelete.tmp . IF on the other hand this folder is located under you C: drive, in DOS, it would look like C:\Wontdelete.tmp . Hope you can see that where it is in the hierarchical chain means that your DOS commands have to replicate it in a command line structure.
 
So, you should reboot the computer and when it starts to come up press down F8 and you may have to be insistent. You should be presented with some options. The one you want to choose is Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Sometimes you can use your mouse to choose it; sometimes you have to use the number keypad. Choosing that will bring you to the DOS emulation for XP. Should be a black screen with the cursor indicating the position in the hierarchy of folders you are in. Sometimes it will come up as C:\ or sometimes it will say C:\Windows . Now this is where you have to use your keyboard to go up and down through the hiercarchical directory. In DOS a Folder is called a Directory.
 
To change directories you type at the Prompt cd\ This just means change directory. Generally cd\ followed by no directory name takes you to the root directory or what is equivalent to C:\ . To get to the Windows subdirectory you could type cd\Windows or to get to the system directory you would type cd\Windows\Sytstem32
 
You have to be in the directory you desire to delete a specific file. Be sure that the your prompt has the name of the directory before deleting anything. To sse what is in that directory (since a directory is a folder) you type dir /p This will allow you to see the files in that directory and will only scroll for a screen full and pause. Hit any key and it will continue showing what files are in that directory until there are no more files.
 
Now, you are wanting to delete the \Wontdelete.tmp directory. However, you first have to find out whether that directory (or folder) has files in it since you can't remove it until the directory is empty. Pretending for the moment that this directory was in the Windows directory, you would type cd\Windows\Wontdelete.tmp . If it lets you in, type dir /p and see if it contains any files. IF it does contain files, you would type del *.* to wipe them all out. If it doesn't have any files, then you will need to get out of the directory by typing (in this case) cd\Windows . To get rid of the directory you do not use the del command. Rather, you would type rd\Windows\Wontdelete.tmp
 
Hope this helps.

unfortunatly i tried it ths way. and as i typed dir/p to see the files in the directory file. it closed down. i tried again and again and it still does the same thing. is there any way to delete the folder without having to view whats in it
 
p.s sorry about the lateness of my reply as ive been on holiday

Start up in safe mode, once in Window$, hit "ctrl+alt+delete", take a screen shot of the "processes" tab, and post it in here.

okay, cant see what good thatll do but ill see

We need to know what's running in the background, do you know exactly what every process in your device manager is for? Could you spot something out of the ordinary?
 
If so, you shouldn't be asking questions in here, you should be answering them.

what is the folder name?
can you acces it and see what is inside.
did you installed a program like changeext that let you have more option on the right click action on a file or document. remove it and try again.

point taken. you might like to know that i managed to get into the folder without it closing down. i was scanning something and t took me to the photo viewer as normal. from there i was able to change the option allowing me to view other files and everything in there was fine so i transfered everything i could to a different flder and sure enough only one remained. it appears to be either a txt file or a video file. i would give you the name but 1. if i try to copy anything in realtion to it, it shuts down and 2. the name is all i. this weird square writing just vertical rectangles is all i can describe it as.
 
i was also checking my security and it seems that ive had a breach as well so maybe it could have been planted or maybe im just paranoid
 
ill post the screen shot soon as poss though

1. Try disabling the Windows' shell preview components.
1) Start->Run:
regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll
3) See if you can delete/access the folder.
4) Re-enable the components, Start->Run:
regsvr32 shmedia.dll
regsvr32 shimgvw.dll
 
2. Run check disk for the drive, where the troubling folder is located.
Start->Run: chkdsk /f DRIVE, where DRIVE is, for example, C:.
If the drive is system drive (drive which contains Windows), you'll be asked if you like to do the check on next boot up.
Answer yes and next time you restart Windows, the drive will be checked for possible errors and fixed.
 
You can also run much deeper (and longer) test for the drive. Just issue following command instead: chkdsk /r DRIVE.
This checks for bad sectors and tries to restore possibly corrupted files. Again, if the drive is system drive you'll need to answer yes and reboot.
 

I don't think you're paranoid, I think you may have a virus or Trojan on your system. Possibly a boot sector virus that just keeps coming back after you scan your HDD with an AVP. Possibly just your boot sector is corrupt, either way, it has to be fixed.
 
A corrupt boot sector can give you weird characters for file names, just like a virus.
 
So, try this out, boot from your XP CD, when you get the option to select "R" for the Recovery Console, choose it. Once in the recovery console, type in fixboot and hit enter, this will write a new boot sector to your HDD.
 
If that doesn't solve the prob, boot from the XP CD again, enter the recovery console again, and this time type in fixmbr, this will write a new master boot record to your HDD.
 
I'm sure one of those will do the trick, "fixboot" would be my first attempt at fixing it.

hey everyone, soory i havnt been posting lately, thanks for all the tips on how to fix my problem. im not exactl sure what happened but i tried o go into the folder yesterday and it let me in. it wouldnt let me delete the file so i went into safe mode and used the command prompt and hey presto it worked. my computer is now running they way it should be, all thanks to you guys.
 
thanks a bundle