Many books have been written on the subject of
Windows Annoyances. There are websites which earn their keep by addressing this
same topic. You might say that misery loves company, and that particuler misery has an entire industry built around it.
Here is my annoyance du jour.
I'm trying to delete a file - or even a bunch of files - using My Computer (or Windows Explorer: take your pick). Naturally, I'm always in a hurry when this comes up.... Up pops one of my least-favorite Windows dialogue boxes. It says:
"cannot delete file... in use by another program"We computer
literati know how to determine what programs are using that file. Guess what? Most of the time (I'd venture to say 99% of the time) the only program or process that is using the file in question is.... drum roll, please.... "explorer.exe" In other words, Explorer (My Computer) can't delete the file because it's in use by - not "another program" - but rather by explorer itself. The only explanation I have is that it's a Microsoft product; we
cogniceti have learned to expect stupidity and, um,
annoyances from Microsoft/Windows
Think of Microsoft as the carpenter who can build a house that is "good enough" - but you get splinters in your hand every time you touch the stair rail. It could be the electrician who installs half of the light switches upsude down. It's the mechanic who comes up with parts left over after working on your car (surprisingly, the car seems to run OK).
Enough of the rant. When you encounter this situation - and you are certain that the error message is bogus - try this:
- Note the filename and complete path name of the "in use" file, e.g. C:\Program Files\Tools\xxx.dll"
In this example, xxx.dll is the file name; C:\Program Files\Tools\ is the path name. - Restart the PC
- Early in the boot process, press the F8 key to reach the "Advanced Boot Options" menu.
- Select "Safe Mode w/ Command Prompt"
- Log in as a local administrator (if it's your computer, you are probably a local administrator; if this computer is a "company" computer, you may not be able to do this - check with your system administrator.
- Change the directory to the location of the file in question (you noted the pathname above, remember?). To do this, type "cd "
- Type "del" "filename" (do not type in the quote symbols)
- That's it. Reboot the computer and allow Windows to start naturally.
Why does this work? Remember that above I told you that "explorer.exe" was the problem; using this technique prevents the "explorer" from starting, thus keeping explorer from "using" to the file.
