Hi Ed,

>Have you checked the attributes and permissions on the folder?

No, I haven't done that. These are the last of over 1,000 directories...I could delete many of them in the normal way in Explorer, then discovered that many had that weird character in their names...I could delete those directories if the character was not in the first 8 characters of the file name (by deleting them by referring to their 8 character DOS name).

These last 8 or so are a problem...there was nothing to lead me to believe that their attributes would prevent me from deleting them, but I'll surely check that when I go to the client's next week...the files are on a local hard drive. I'm convinced that it's due to the character.

Last night, at 3:30 AM after some dingbat from NYC telephoned me about an order I'd place, I was thinking about the problem...I can MOVE the directories - but not to a Zip drive or diskette...so I think I'll try something simple next: moving them to the Recycle Bin. But I fear they may reside there forever, w/Windows (98) not willing or able to delete them from there.

Damn this is frustrating! J