How to delete

[Badboysean]

I have a file on my computer that I know isnt being used and its just takin up space. I cant delete because it keeps saying its being used by another program. Isnt there any way to bypass it? I tried closing everything out. Also tried deleting it through Safe Mode, still didnt work.

Sean

[Tuf]

Probably what kind of file is it?

[Badboysean]

Its an avi file.

[doctorgonzo]

Check this out:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;320081

It references this neat little utility, which can tell you what programs are locking a file:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr.../procexp.shtml

[Badboysean]

thanx for the utility, didnt find anything though. Its a corrupted file I know that much, just cant get it off the system.

Sean

[Padaxus]

ive got exactly this problem as well except that its seriously slowing my comp down, its also an AVI file

[Trent Steel]

What OS do you have? I had a few files that were causing similar problems. Start from a fresh boot and try to delete them without selecting them (prevents preview from activating if in XP), you can do this by selecting a group of files that includes the offending file then Ctrl clicking the files you do not want to delete, then hitting the delete button. All the while make sure not to run the mouse cursor over the file ( to prevent preview from accessing it). Hope that helps. If that does not work you can also try it from safe mode.

[mike breck]

Some other ideas.

Try changing the file extension from .avi to something like .old or .bak and save the file as that. Then try deleting.

Or, move all the other files out of the folder, so that only the .avi file is left. Then delete the folder containing the file.

[setme31]

Open up a different .avi file. Then try and delete your .avi file that says it is being used.

Sometimes a program will hold onto a file even after you closed the application. If you open up a different file with that same extension, it will free your original file.

This happens all of the time with Kazaa. I will download a song, play it, and then realize it wasn't what I wanted. I close out all programs, and then try to delete the file. It won't let me delete it, because Kazaa is holding onto the reference to that file.

[Badboysean]

Padaxus: Exactly, it slows my comp down like crazy, its really odd. And I cant change the filename because its ssupposedly in use, and I have tried opening another avi to get the program on another file. Nothing works. Really weird.

[Padaxus]

sean we are in the same boat i tried using Procexp to find out what it was open with and foind it in Explorer forced the close and tried to delete and still wont go ill have to keep looking for it and hope for best.

If i cant i think im gonna have to burn my Document files to CD and format the HD

[daisiee69]

I've had this happened before. All I did was a re-start of the computer, then I was able to delete it.
Hope this helps !

[Padaxus]

fraid not

tried this quite a few times and it dont work if i go near the file it slows comp down its not as bad if i stay clear of it but its not ideal comp is running like my old 75mhz CPU

[Joeberg]

Hello,

Did you try to end all applications running with the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) And then attempt to delete the file? or try running msconfig (Run msconfig from the run dialouge box) and ending everything that starts (all apps+progs) when you boot. Thats what I did when something happened to my PC.
Hope That Helps
Joe

[Badboysean]

Yep, ill give it another shot though.

[crjdriver]

Have you tried booting from the cd, running the repair consol and deleting the file from there? You will have to know the full path for the offending file to do this.

[Padaxus]

Sean

I managed to sort i i think,
what i did was i went into documents and settings and created a new my documents file and called it My documents 1 then transfered everything from the old one exluding the problem file into the new documents file, then deleted the old My Documents and it deleted with no problems then changed "My documents 1" to the default by right clicking my documents in the start menu ans set it as default and renaming it My documents (do this otherwise linked programs u have in there wont work unless u redirect all shortcuts to it)

Ok i know i havent explained myself very well but i think u get the idea and will know what im getting at.

Im hoping this will have no long term effects but will have to see so far so good

Good luck ean let me know how it goes.

[Tuf]

I have seen this a number of times. You can delete the file file by stopping explorer from the task manager and then deleting the file. Then just restart explorer.

From dougknox.com;

How do I delete an "undeletable" file?

Thanks to MS-MVP Kelly Theriot for this tip.

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. Close all open programs. Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. Leave Task Manager open. Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in. At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. Close Task Manager.


This works every time!

[Badboysean]

does this work on XP as well? Im on XP pro..

Sean

[reboot]

Yes, simply open the folder the file is in, hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the Processes tab. End Task on Explorer.exe
Delete the file, then go to File, New, and run Explorer.exe

[Badboysean]

When I close ecplorer the folder that I was holding open closes with it. How do I keep an open folder to delete it from?

[Tuf]

If you follow the directions I posted you will have a command prompt opened and you can delete it from there. Restart Explorer from the task manager.

[Badboysean]

Been so long since ive been in dos it took me a minute to remember what I was doing, but I got it all squared away. Thanx a million.

Sean

[Tuf]

Glad you got it, first time can be a pain.

[rickyg]

I had the same problem in XP,I just moved the file to the cd,burned it and it was done.Cost me 1 minute and a blank CD.

[muTe]

or use nero well it works for me when I can't deleter a file or folder I use nero and it works 99% of the time..