Member Avatar for johnroach1985

hiya all.The problem is this i have created this Form1.exe in visiual basic.But I can't seem to be able to erase it.I tried everything.First I tried shift+del then i went like to safe mode from admin than from my normal user name but each time i try to erase it it says its being use by another user or such.But when i ctrl-alt-del i can't see such a process.Please is there a program that can erase any program whatever what on net??even if being used.I will try dos now hope it will work.If it will i post as such.(Hope I posted at right place taught this is a xp problem???)

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Dani AI

Generated

Nice catch, — this is a classic locked-file situation on Windows. The OS prevents deletion while any process still holds an open handle to the file. Killing random system pieces can work, but it’s safer to identify the owner and stop it cleanly or schedule removal so nothing crashes.

Practical, low-risk steps:

  • Use Sysinternals Process Explorer. Run it elevated, use the Find dialog (Ctrl+F) and search the filename. It will show which process holds the handle. Prefer closing the application normally. If you must, right‑click the handle in Process Explorer and choose Close Handle — note this can destabilize the owning process.
  • For command-line checks, Sysinternals handle.exe is useful:
handle.exe -a <filename>

This lists processes with handles to the file so you can decide how to proceed.

Other options and checks:

  • If the file is launched from a shell or set to auto-run, remove the startup entry with Autoruns or msconfig then reboot.
  • Some AV products or indexers lock files; temporarily pause real‑time scanning while investigating.
  • If you can’t release the handle safely, schedule the file to be removed at next boot (MoveFile / pending rename methods) so the delete happens before user processes start.

Cautions: forcibly closing handles or killing core processes can crash Windows or corrupt data. When in doubt, identify the process first, stop the program normally, and only use force as a last resort. Persistent or recreating files deserve extra scrutiny — check startup locations and run a malware scan.

Member Avatar for johnroach1985

Tried DOS and again THIS====>

C:\Documents and Settings\as\Desktop>del Form1.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\as\Desktop\Form1.exe
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
Member Avatar for johnroach1985

Soooo sorry for crowding the forum found the solution.I forgot my program works over explorer.exe so after re-checking my codes I closed explorer.exe from my process' (ctrl+al+del) after that i said new task wrote cmd got the command window running wrote "del Form1.exe"
and vola its gone forever...:) I just love happy endings

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