I'll try that. I wonder, though, is it copying the file and I'm deleting the
new file? Or is it renaming it?

"Joe Grover" wrote:

> Type: dir /x
>
> That will give you a column that shows you the 8.3 filename for your files.
>
> For example, address book.txt also shows up as ADDRES~1.TXT. Then you could
> delete addres~1.txt
>
> Joe
>
> "Tafeille" <Tafeille@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F65151D8-86E3-459E-B515-1113623B4E76@microsoft.com...
> >I have XP Home Edition. Virus recently messed everything up. Before getting
> > fixed want to delete files no longer needed but cannot get to Programs or
> > Desktop while in safe mode. Can get to C prompt and DOS. I deleted files
> > with
> > short names but can't delete ones with more than 8 characters. Is there a
> > way
> > to delete the long-lettered files using DOS? I don't want to delete whole
> > subdirectories, just particular files in them. Thanks.
>
>