How to get around XP deleting bug.

[Brock_Landers]

As some people may have noticed sometimes in XP it is not possible to dlete files. It says they are in use and will not allow the deletion process to occur. This is a bug in XP that has to do with corrupt files. It also causes explorer to use 99% of your CPU and the only thing you can do is reboot to free up resources.

There are a couple workarounds that I have found and thought I would share them. First, if it is in a folder that you can delete then all you have to do is drag folder to recycle bin. This is the only way to delete it. If you select and hit delete button this will not work or if you right click and select delete it will not work. If it is not in a folder the only other way to delete is get a third party deleter like cleansweep.

[NuTs62]

I've run into the same problem under Win2k and Win98. I used to use several methods to get around it.

1. If its a media file, turn the folders into classic mode, that way pictures, videos, or music won't start playing once you highlight it. Then after that, try to delete it.
2. Drop into Dos, and use old dos commands to delete it.
3. Reboot the system, and try to delete it again.

Though these methods won't work all the time, they have worked on occasions for me.