Strange error refers to forward module

I get the following error when I access my modules list:

warning: opendir(sites/all/modules/forward) [function.opendir]: failed to open dir: Permission denied in /home/myid/public_html/includes/file.inc on line 931.

I used this module in the past, but had misconfigured it to allow users to leave messages. Apparently spammers were forwarding posts with malicous code or annoying ads. Bad idea so I went to reconfigure the forward settings, but could not access the settings page. Now I have removed it from sites>all/modules folder.

Any clues on what is going on would be appreciated.