"Access denied" to C:\Documents and Settings after removing malware?

Question

My Windows 7 PC became infected with the so-called "Malware Protection designed to protect" trojan while I was at work the other day.

I managed to kill the process so that the malware is no longer running.

The removal instructions specify to delete the following file: c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\defender.exe

However, when I click to c:\documents and settings, it says "Access denied". Prior to this malware infection, I've never had any trouble accessing "Documents and Settings" or "Application Data."

I read that in Windows 7, c:\documents and settings is a psudonym for c:\users, but I still cannot find the file defender.exe.

Suggestions?

Answer 1

Opening C:\Documents and Settings\ is expected to give you problems in Windows 7. It does this on every Windows 7 box, fresh from install. This is normal, and can be ignored.

The directory C:\Users\All Users\Application Data\ is itself a NTFS Junction Point (what you called a "pseudonym"), so you can't open it either.

The directory you want is C:\ProgramData\.