Keyhoti,
Windows 2000 and XP both have specific "permissions" requirements when working with various files and registry entries. Windows "locks" them and there may be different ways to solve the problem. Your "hunt and peck" method is frequently the only way to get it done. First, in order to change system files, you'll need to be logged in as a user which has "administrator" priviledges. That usually gets things done. Occasionally, you'll need to log in as the "Administrator" username which is the original user ID from the computer.
The error messages you're seeing {"cannot read from source file" and "(file) access denied"} may have different causes. With "Access Denied", it might be a "read only" file attribute that needs to be changed. If that's not it, I find it easiest to attempt file removals in "Safe Mode" but even then, you may not be able to uninstall a complete program that uses the "Windows Installer". In those cases, the uninstall must be done in "normal" Windows. "Usually", Safe Mode frees up some of those locked files and allows for deletion. Sometimes other means are required such as the Recovery Console or using a third party program like "MoveOnBoot".
As with most computer problems, use what works.
Hope this helps.
Grif
Actually I am not Irish, but nay mind.
Keyhoti (moi) tilts at another windmill and nearly comes unstuck, jags it, however, but doesn't really know what he did!
(I am am writing this post so that someone who really does know how to do things might explain how to fix the problem I had to others.)
The immediate story:
I had a Labtec wireless desktop which went wrong: so I got a Microsoft "Basic Wireless Optical Desktop".
When installing I got the message that there was a conflict with an existing installation and so I tried to delete it, but found both "cannot read from source file" and "(file) access denied". (And my new optical mouse did not work, though the keyboard did ... luckily I still have a USB mouse, so I could still operate.)
Anyhow ......................... lol(?)
I muddled around with "remove programs", "device manager", "search" (I run XPHome SP2), my "Registry Healer" utility, "disk clean", "defrag" and anything else I could think of.
Omg it worked, but I don't know how.
It was not the first time that I have found access denied to files I wanted to delete - or else some message like, "cannot read source file" - and so it is a general issue and maybe someone who really knows can explain how to be rid of stuff which tells you it will not be deleted!!

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