my scanner will no longer scan, it says it is being used by another program. how do i find what is using it so i can stop it or delete it?

stipid question, you tried a reboot? Sounds to me like a software conflict.

Which O/S you running?
Have you tried reinstalling the software?

i rebooted, it wont let me uninstall because its being used,even shut everything unneeded in startup, windows xp home

Ok, load up in safe mode by rebooting nd holding F8 just before the the O/S is told to load.

Then attempt to uninstall it that way. Let us know how you get on

Jet's clear something up:
There are no "Stupid" questions.
There may be "Stipid" questions, but only a stupid person would write "Stipid" when they meant "stupid".
Safe mode should help, and you could also take a close look at Startup programs in msconfig to try and identify the conflicting software. Any imaging program or anything that loads the Twain driver is suspect.