File will not delete

I have a .avi file, that refuses to delete, rename, move, etc. When attempting to do so, I received the message that the file is in use. I have tried eliminating non-essential tasks, and deleteing, and rebooting in safe mode and deleting and the same message occurs. I have also tried going through command line and deleting. This file refuses to go away! could there be a hidden process accessing this .avi file? Is there a way I can list hidden processes? any suggestions to this dilema would be appreciated.

 

To solve this problem for all avi's, forever, all you have to do is the following:

1. Run: regedt32
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
3. Export the key (if you care to).
4. Delete the "Default" value which should be "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E} "

You will no longer have the second page of properties displaying the AVI file information such as width, height, bitrate etc. But its a small price to pay. Many other apps can supply you with this information if you need it (any video editing software, which is really the only use for that information, anyway).

 

so a solution to do this for just this one file would be to export, delete and import and everything would be well in the world again?

 

You may want to leave the entry out. I said nothing about importing. Your method would accomplish nothing but return things to the status quo.

Return it only if you need the second page of properties and don't mind waiting a very long time for avi scanning to finish.

 

Another file I can't seem to delete. this one has a "dual" extension. the file itself is in the format of "file.zip.exe ". When I started dloading it I noticed the .exe tacked on at the end, knowing that these are often viruses I cancelled the transfer, but still received part of the file. The file itself is incomplete and stuck in a limbo. once again. The file is "In use" and can not be deleted, renamed or moved. is there a similiar solution for this file? and is there anyway to disable most of these windows "services" so that I do not have this recurring problem?

 

Disabling the Indexing service often cures the problem of not being able to delete files.

Go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services, scroll down to Indexing, double click on it. Choose "Disabled" from the drop down list, then click on the Stop button to stop the service without having to reboot.

There are numerous guides online for which services to turn off, which to set to manual and which to leave on automatic but I've found Black Viper's site the easiest to use.

 

Another method that works on many files-->

1.) Download Process Explorer:

http://www.sysinternals.com/files/procexpnt.zip

2.) Unzip and run procexp.exe

3.) Click the View button and check "Show Processes From All Users ".

4.) Click the right-hand binoculars (Find handle).

5.) Type the name of your file and search.

6.) Highlight each result and you will see its handle highlighted in the lower pane.

7.) Right-click each handle in the lower pane and close it.

8.) Close Process Explorer and delete the file.

Note: This will work on most but not all files since the handle may be immediately reopened by a process.