When I attempt to delete a Word document on the computer (usually by right-clicking on the file and selecting “Delete”) the file does not delete, rather another copy of the file is made. I finish up with dozens of copies of documents that I have tried to delete. What am I doing wrong?

To begin, you are not doing anything wrong – you are deleting files using the exact method that should be used (right-click on the file and select “Delete”). However, there seems to be something rather strange happening behind the scenes in Windows which results in the file being copied instead of deleted. The other method to delete files is selecting the file and hitting the DEL key on the keyboard, or also dragging the files into the Recycle Bin and then emptying the Recycle Bin. However, these are just workarounds which may (or may not) work, so we still need to find the root cause of the problem.

Reading the reports of other users who have experienced similar problems, there does not seem to be one definitive solution to the problem, but instead many different methods which have worked for some users but not others. As a starting point, some people have reported that viruses and other malware (e.g. spyware and adware) could be manipulating the Windows graphical user interface environment and causing this behaviour. Therefore, you should complete a full antivirus scan of your computer to check for viruses. I also suggest that you download and install Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads) then use these utilities to scan your computer and remove any found threats. After this has completed, restart the computer and check whether the problem continues.

If this has not resolved the problem then you should next run Windows Update in case there are any updates which have been released that address this issue. Should you still encounter problems then try running the Windows System File Checker (SFC) utility. This will scan the computer for any missing or hidden Windows system files and then replace these with known good copies. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes, but mind the space between the “sfc” and “/scannow” portions of the command) and click OK. The SFC will immediately commence operations and scan the computer. Once the SFC utility has finished operations it will exit silently with no user feedback. Once this has completed, restart the computer and check whether the problem continues.

As a final resort, you could complete a repair installation of Windows. In theory, a repair installation will replace all the Windows system files while leaving your data intact. However, things have been known to go wrong with repair installations so before commencing it is essential that you backup any data you wish to keep, just in case things go wrong. Once you have your backup you are ready to commence. There are excellent instructions for completing a Windows repair installation at the following website: michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm . I strongly suggest that you print these instructions before commencing the procedure, so you can follow the instructions throughout the process.

Unfortunately as there is no definitive answer to the question you have asked, there is no easy solution, apart from going through these relatively generic Windows troubleshooting steps. Please let me know how this goes and whether you are able to resolve the problem.