# how to find out what program is using a file?



## thanatos8285 (May 11, 2008)

Hi, I have a few files on my desktop that are starting to annoy me, and I want to delete them, but whenever I try, Vista tells me that they're in use. I tried killing every non-essential program I had running, rebooting, nothing. No matter what I try, they're always "in use". So maybe if someone could point me in the right direction so that I could figure out what's using them, I could finally get rid of them. Thanks!


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

SysInternals Process Monitor (ProcMon.exe) - free from Microsoft TechNet -

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

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## DT Roberts (Jun 22, 2009)

You can try to delete them using *Unlocker*: http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

After you install it, right-click on whatever you want to get rid of and select *Unlocker*.

Good luck.


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