How to Delete a File in Use by Another Program
At some point, most of us run into a situation where deleting files in use by another program seems almost impossible. Whether it's a photo that's open in a photo editor or a lone file left over from an application you thought you closed out entirely, trying to delete files in use can be time-consuming. There are several options you can choose from to remove a file in use by another program, but note that you cannot delete the file over a network connection if it is in use on another computer that you don't have access to.
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Instructions
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Try to delete the file after waiting one to two minutes from the first attempt. According to computerhope.com, the operating system or a running application might still be using the file and need a minute to finish entirely.
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Close all running applications on the computer until you reach the one that closes the file. If you don't know which files are running, bring up the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete. In the Applications tab you'll see a list of all the programs currently running on the computer, such as an email client, Web browser, word processor or photo application. Sometimes it's obvious which program is still using the file if you were just editing it, so start by closing out the obvious ones first, and reattempt the file deletion after each application closes.
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Log off your profile, wait a minute or two, and log back on. When you log off, Windows automatically closes out of running applications, which means you can usually delete the file as soon as you log back on because no processes should be running.
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Shut down or restart your computer. If logging off did not affect the file, rebooting the system should successfully unlock it.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't try the same routine over and over again. If pressing the Delete key doesn't work the first five times, it probably won't work on the sixth. In most cases, making a direct change to some other program, either by closing it out of it, logging off or rebooting, should close the application and unlock the file. If the file is open in another computer, try to locate the person using it and ask them to close out of the file or the application if they don't need it anymore.
