Have you ever tried to delete some files in your computer, and this annoying error message shows up?

You have double, triple and even quadruple checked that there are no applications that are using this file. In fact, you might have just closed all your applications and Windows still claims that something - devil? - is using that file. Rebooting your PC often helps solve this matter, but hey, what if after the reboot, and you’re trying to delete yet another file, and it also claimed to be ‘in use’? I don’t think rebooting 30 times to delete 30 empty folders will be pleasant!

Introducing - Unlocker! This nifty app is developed by Cedrick “Nitch” Collomb will solve your woes of deleting files. This free, small download (236kB download footprint) have saved me from loads of headaches thanks to some file caching and lots of bad programming. Installation is swift and fool-proof.

Once you’ve installed Unlocker, try right-clicking on any files in the explorer, you’ll see a new option in the menu:

Clicking on this menu will bring forth the Unlocker GUI:

If you notice, there’s four button at the bottom right. Here’s what they do (if you can’t figure it out already):

• Kill Process - this will terminate the process (program) that is still using the file
• Unlock - unlocks the file. This will keep the process running, but frees the file of the lock, preventing you to delete/move the file
• Unlock All - unlocks all files (if you select multiple files before right-clicking)
• Quit - duh

On the bottom left, there’s one action dropdown menu. Choose what you want to do to the selected file after the “Kill Process” or “Unlock/Unlock All” action have been performed. Here you can choose to leave the file alone, or delete/rename/move/copy the file.

Unlocker will then try to unlock the file (or kill the process) and perform the action you choose. If it fails to do so, it will prompt that the action will be carried during the next reboot.

More info & download Unlocker at the official website.

p/s: I KNEW IT! explorer.exe refuses to let go of the file. I wonder if my PC is a big fan of Cecilia Cheung. Hmmm…

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