I've got this weird file on my desktop that just won't go away! I'm not sure how it ended up there, but it's really annoying me. The file's name is: data image_jpeg;base64,_9j_4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD_2wBDABQODxIPDRQSEBIXFRQYHjIhHhwcHj0sLiQySUBMS0dARkVQWnNiUFVtVkVGZIhlbXd7gYKBTmCNl4x9lnN+gXz_2wBDARUXFx4aHjshITt8U0ZTfHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHx8fHz_wAARCALJA8oDASIA. I've tried right-clicking and deleting it, but nothing happens. No error messages or anything! I'm kind of at a loss here. Here's a screenshot of it on my desktop: .
5 Answers
You could try creating a new file with the same name and overwrite it. After that, try deleting it again. It might help! Just a heads up: I think this is actually a shortcut, but give it a shot! You can also check the file properties to see where it originates from.
When you try to delete it, what happens? Does any message pop up for you?
Nothing, I right-click and delete, and nothing happens. No error messages or pop-ups or anything.
I've had a file like that before. Maybe try rebooting your computer to see if that helps? Sometimes a simple restart can clear up issues like these.
I've had this file on my desktop for MONTHS, so rebooting did not work.
A bit more techie: Open a command prompt as an admin and run the following commands: taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F, then DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%IconCache.db", and DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%MicrosoftWindowsExplorericoncache*". Reboot your computer after executing these commands, and the file should hopefully be gone!
I followed that exactly and rebooted, but the file still won’t delete.
If the file path is too long, it can cause issues when trying to delete. If you have tools like 7-zip or WinRAR, open the directory with them and try renaming the file first, then delete it. Alternatively, using PowerShell with this command could work: Remove-Item "\?\C:pathtoyourfile". Just make sure to add that \\?\ at the start of the path!
[The file](https://i.imgur.com/FI3j9xQ.jpeg) isn't letting me do that unless I'm doing something wrong.