It got stranger. I was able to finish the Venetian game and started one with HRE. I found I could delete files if I did so twice. Delete once, no go; delete again, gone. All but the ones that appear in the save file - they refuse to be deleted. Bottom line is, it appears I can play the game and all of the unlocked kingdoms and delete old saves (now that te old ones are gone, delete works as it should) as long as I don't play as administrator. I never did get around to changing folder location; I'm not sure I could even test it at this point. Anyway, thanks for the help - I'd still be stuck if you hadn't.