Deleting a file in use

dreamworks

--== babyface ==--
Joined
19 Jan 2003
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355
Hello,

I have a machine that is running on Windows XP Pro. I would like to delete a file and replace it with a new version manually, but unfortunately this file is in use by a program or something that I am not sure what. I tried starting under safe mode but still I can't delete it, if it was Win98 I can boot up with a startup disk and delete it from dos but since this was formatted under NTFS system, it is virtually impossible .. any idea how can I delete the file please? : )

Many thanks ..
 
It could be a virus, or an inefected file, though if you know you dont have a virus and you created it yourself, you can try and delete it thru the command prompt, or do what enyo said. Id go with Enyo's idea though, sounds better. =P
 
be nice to know what the file is...maybe then can we determine how to help him
 
I had to do something similar once. I killed "explorer.exe" from Task Manager (all your icons and start menu will go away), then ran "explorer.exe" from task manager to get back my icons n stuff, then deleted the file. Seems that the original explorer "locked" the file, but when I killed and restarted it, that frees the file from being used.

I wasn't trying to replace a file though, but the idea is somewhat the same. Anyway, that worked for me
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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