# This file cannot be deleted because it is being used by a program.  ARGH.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 31, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009 "2003-12-31T21:38:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009/1 "2003-12-31T21:38:22Z")

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Just ran into that message… again and again.

Anyone know how to get around it to move, rename, or delete this file?

I’ve closed every single program thats not run by the system…

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009/2 "2003-12-31T21:40:08Z")

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Try [this trick](http://www.petri.co.il/delete_undeletable_files.htm). It normally fixes the problem.

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**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009/3 "2003-12-31T22:02:55Z")

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If that doesn’t work, try deleting the files in Safe Mode or use a command prompt.

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**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009/4 "2003-12-31T22:03:20Z")

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Thanks, Q. Did the trick.

Please close… thanks.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-file-cannot-be-deleted-because-it-is-being-used-by-a-program-argh/222009/5 "2003-12-31T22:18:59Z")

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Assuming you are certain the file you want to delete is “malware,” on most modern versions of Windows Ctrl-Alt-Del will bring up Task Manager instead of triggering immediate reboot. Select the “Processes” tab and close the process identified by the filename you want to get rid of. (I ended up with a little program called nvidia.exe that was indeed invidious; it loaded a half-baked search program as my Internet homepage and refused to go away. Closing it by this means and then deleting it using Windows Explorer solved the problem.)

If something takes over a true Windows process, loading itself as the DLL or such that that process depends on, your only option is to rename it, move it to a different directory, reboot, and then delete it, all steps being needed and in that order, because it won’t allow a deletion if it’s in use, but will accept a new file name and being moved to another directory, where it won’t be associated with the process it took over after a reboot. This little phenomenon happened to me once, and it was living hell to find out what was causing the problems and how to get rid of it.