Then, like a good user, I close out of the Properties and re-open them. It thinks about it for a while and says OK.
OK, so I look into it, open up the properties of the folder in question, hit the Ownership tab, and make my account the Owner of the entire directory, all sub-directories, and all files. Evidently, as the sole user on the PC and a member of Administrators, I need to get permission from myself to delete the files. So I installed a new SSD, re-installed Win7 圆4 Ultimate, remapped the user directories to my platter drive (My Pictures, My Music, etc.) and I'm trying to clean out some of the files in my Downloads.
