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Hey guys to any of you who know there stuff when it comes to computers i need help on deleting a file. I am running windows xp home edition and currently have a movie file that i want to delete. the problem is that when i try it says that the file is being used by another program. i have try to restart my computer and delete it but that didnt work same msg, i even started in safe movie and it still said that. my suspision is that it is a virus that gets explorer to start using large amounts of memory over time. anyone know how i can get rid of this file.
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Hm... There are a lot of things that could theoretically be using a file. A download program, any program that can play that type of movie file... Or as you said, perhaps a data miner.

I would use the Task Manager {ctrl alt delete} to close down all the processes that look suspicious (most of the important ones have recognizable names like msnmsgr or explorer. And then see if you can delete it.

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you cant delete files when you end explorer, and like i said i have restarted my computer so that only the basics are are running and i get the same megs. there must me a force delete command somewhere in windows.
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Are you trying to delete it from within Windows? There are a million services that can be latching onto it. Try deleting it with the task manager open to the Processes tab. If anything other than SystemIdleProcess has more than 10% that may be the culprit.

If you can't kill the rogue process, try shelling out to a CMD prompt and deleting the file there. Type in delete /? to get the switches available. If there's one available for unconditional, use that.

If that doesn't work, boot the machine in safe mode command prompt and try that. If THAT doesn't work, boot from a DOS disk and delete it from there. If that doesn't work perform an exorcism.
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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tip: go to task manager and kill every process with your username in (not LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE or SYSTEM), except explorer. That should do the trick. If not, enter prompt mode in safety mode and try to delete it. If still you can't delete it, open you PC, grab the hard disk and LICK it! Remove the bits with your tongue!
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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You killed explorer? That makes the entire system lock up.

All the rogue procesess that could be using the file normally have incomprehnsible names (Think Shimranese)

You might try qttask (quicktime task manager) or anything with "real" in the name (They are for REAL player) as they would likely open movies.

Also, if you got the movie file via P2P or bittorrent, you should check to see if anyone is downloading it, from you, and if they are, cancel the download.

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I said EXCEPT explorer.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Killing processes at random can have undesired effects. If it's an obvious run-away, then kill it. If not, the best bet is to keep Windows out of it all together and boot from floppy. You can make a startup disk from a Win98 machine, or go to FreeDOS.org
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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Or you could use this nifty little program:

MoveOnBoot
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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Originally posted by: JediSage
Killing processes at random can have undesired effects. If it's an obvious run-away, then kill it. If not, the best bet is to keep Windows out of it all together and boot from floppy. You can make a startup disk from a Win98 machine, or go to FreeDOS.org


Well obviously, but this was just for him to be able to delete the file. Aftewards, restart the computer and everything is back.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
tip: go to task manager and kill every process with your username in (not LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE or SYSTEM), except explorer. That should do the trick. If not, enter prompt mode in safety mode and try to delete it. If still you can't delete it, open you PC, grab the hard disk and LICK it! Remove the bits with your tongue!


no i wouldnt do this, but like i said i know it has latched on to explorer. so thats the problem. you cant delete files without explorer running. and you cant delete this file because explorer os using it.
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Originally posted by: JediSage
Are you trying to delete it from within Windows? There are a million services that can be latching onto it. Try deleting it with the task manager open to the Processes tab. If anything other than SystemIdleProcess has more than 10% that may be the culprit.

If you can't kill the rogue process, try shelling out to a CMD prompt and deleting the file there. Type in delete /? to get the switches available. If there's one available for unconditional, use that.

If that doesn't work, boot the machine in safe mode command prompt and try that. If THAT doesn't work, boot from a DOS disk and delete it from there. If that doesn't work perform an exorcism.


ok tried killing rogue processes, tried safe mode start up, explorer is the culprit cause it using 51 % constantly, and it starts using 100 000 k on FD memory. its not a process its a file.

i as going to try to boot disk strat but ill get a friend of mine to do that, i dont want to delete someting important by accident.

how can you delete using CMD.
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Seriously, avoid all of that and use MoveOnBoot, it won't affect any important systems if all you delete is the video.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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A DOS bootdisk could help you...

Boot to DOS, the find your way through the directories of yor PC and delete the movie file from there.
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Originally posted by: Shimraa
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Originally posted by: JediSage
Are you trying to delete it from within Windows? There are a million services that can be latching onto it. Try deleting it with the task manager open to the Processes tab. If anything other than SystemIdleProcess has more than 10% that may be the culprit.

If you can't kill the rogue process, try shelling out to a CMD prompt and deleting the file there. Type in delete /? to get the switches available. If there's one available for unconditional, use that.

If that doesn't work, boot the machine in safe mode command prompt and try that. If THAT doesn't work, boot from a DOS disk and delete it from there. If that doesn't work perform an exorcism.


ok tried killing rogue processes, tried safe mode start up, explorer is the culprit cause it using 51 % constantly, and it starts using 100 000 k on FD memory. its not a process its a file.

i as going to try to boot disk strat but ill get a friend of mine to do that, i dont want to delete someting important by accident.

how can you delete using CMD.


Click *Start* then click *Run*-type in *cmd* then hit enter. This will open a command prompt window. You will then need to know which directory (folder) the file resides in. If you have that info, type in cd\ then hit enter, then type in cd\nnnnnnnn where n = folder/directory name. Then type in dir /p to verify the file exists at that location (look for it in the list). If so, type del yyyyyy where y = filename, and if the command prompt lets you, append /u at the end of the command to force it to delete. As always use caution when deleting anything.

I'm a little surprised Explorer.exe is eating up that much in system resources. It is a file, but it's the file that controls the user interface. If you were to end the process, it would probably reset your desktop, but it will most likely happen again if you try to delete the file again. Do you have anti-virus software? I would run a scan with the latest definition files on your entire drive, and also run a spyware sweep using a tool like Ad-aware. Spyware seems like a likely culprit, as a matter of fact. Also, do you have a firewall in place? Are you running Service Pack 2? You can find out if you right click on my computer and select properties. Should tell you which service pack is in place.
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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scaned it with adaware and norton. i do not have sp 2 because of a probkem it has with my laptop, i should get it soon thou cause that problem is probably foxed by now. i have windows firewall and a wireless router.

tried the CMD thing it didnt work, the file appeared on the list, but when i tried to delete it, the computer told me it couldnt find the file. even though i typed it out exactly as was specifed on the list where it appeared.
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Originally posted by: Shimraa
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
tip: go to task manager and kill every process with your username in (not LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE or SYSTEM), except explorer. That should do the trick. If not, enter prompt mode in safety mode and try to delete it. If still you can't delete it, open you PC, grab the hard disk and LICK it! Remove the bits with your tongue!


no i wouldnt do this, but like i said i know it has latched on to explorer. so thats the problem. you cant delete files without explorer running. and you cant delete this file because explorer os using it.


Obviously, being "explorer.exe" the OS "kernell" (and, when talking about Windows, I must use this term with caution), but that's why I said EXCEPT explorer.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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nonono you misunderstood me ric. what i meant was that i wouldnt kill everything besides explorer because that would definitly mess shit up. and also i wouldnt do it cause i know the thing is latched onto explorer so killing everything else could only do bad.
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1) Kill everything but explorer and system processes.

2)Delete your rogue file

3)Restart you computer, and therefore all the processes.


That is what Ric is saying to do.

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explorer is the task i would need to end inorder to delete the file. as long as explorer is running the file cannot be deleted. that is what i am saying. i cannot delete files when explorer is not running, that is the problem.
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How is it possible that explorer is a rogue process prevnting you from deleteing a file?

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its not a rogue process that is happening. whats going on is that the file is constantly calling on explorer to do something, and so explorer is try to do something with it but it doesnt know what. so when i try to kill the file it wont let me cause explorer is trying to do what ever it was this file asked explorer to do.
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Explorer is not the OS kernel. It is the user interface.

Shim: My suggestion is to try booting from floppy. As per my previous post, keep Windows out of it if possible. If that doesn't work, then I'm sorry to say you might have to reimage/reload your hard drive.
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com