Permissions – Deleting “undeletable” files in Vista

I recently upgraded my workstation from XP SP3 to Vista Business, and during the upgrade Windows moved my old C:Windows directory to C:Windows.old.  I got all of the stuff I needed out of that folder, but there are six “undeletable” files there so I cannot remove it.  They are:

Windows.oldProgram1AdobeReader 9.0ResourceCMapIdentity-HWindows.oldProgram1AdobeReader 9.0ResourceCMapIdentity-VWindows.oldProgram1Common FilesAdobeAcrobatActiveXAcroIEHelper.dllWindows.oldProgram1Common FilesAdobeAcrobatActiveXAcroIEHelperShim.dllWindows.oldProgram1Common FilesAdobeAcrobatActiveXAcroPDF.dllWindows.oldProgram1Common FilesAdobeAcrobatActiveXpdfshell.dll

Whenever I try to delete the files either through explorer or a command line, I get a permission denied error.  I have tried to grant myself full permission on the files, but again, permission denied.  I don’t even have acrobat installed on my Vista machine, and I uninstalled Adobe updater.  However, I still can’t manage to get rid of these files.  How do I nuke them for good?

Edit: I was able to take ownership of the files, but I still can’t delete them.  Renaming them did not work, as I was denied permission to do that as well.  I’ll try booting up in safe mode and getting rid of them there.

Edit II: Booting up into safe mode did not allow me to delete the files.  Bummer.

Solution:

You’ll want to first take ownership of the files, which is easiest when you add Take Ownership to the right-click menu.

Once you’ve done that, you can do one of the following:

• Use Unlocker to remove whatever is locking the file, and then delete it.
• Use Boot Deleter to delete it when you reboot.
• Try and rename the file, sometimes you can rename them when you can’t delete them. Once you reboot, you can delete it.
• Try and delete it from safe mode.
• Delete it from the command prompt, usually safe mode works the best.