Yesterday I encountered a strange issue with my computer. I had downloaded a compressed file (.rar format). Later I realised I did not need it and tried to delete it. But instead I got an error message to the effect that ‘the file cannot be deleted as it is in use by another person or process’. But I was sure that the particular .rar file was not in use at all. I repeatedly tried to delete it but with the same result. I remember having encountered a similar problem once before. At that time I had restarted my computer in safe mode and deleted the file. But now I was not willing to restart Windows just to delete a file.

So I decided to ‘google’ out a solution. Didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to find it. Lot of people seem to have faced this issue. Anyway here is the solution I found. There is a freeware called Unlocker, just a 192KB file. Just download and install it. Now, right click on the problematic file and in the context menu click on ‘Unlocker‘. In the resulting window select the file name and click on ‘Unlock‘. Your file is now freed. Now you should be able to delete the file without any problem.

You may face the above problem with folders also. Unlocker works on folders too.

Download Unlocker.

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