Delete A File That Is Seemingly "Undeletable"

First, I would try to use two pretty effective tools

1. Unlocker:

http://www.astatalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=155314

2. Killbox:

http://www.astatalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=155306

If those programs do not work, more drastic measures are sometimes needed. Every so often you'll run across a file you want to delete that defies every effort made to send it packing. There are no guarantees when you encounter this situation, but give the following procedure a try and see what happens.

1. Open a Command Prompt Window via Start All Programs Accessories Command Prompt

If using Vista, right click on Command Prompt and choose "Run as Administrator".

2. Leave the Command Prompt Window open and close all other open programs.



3. Go to Start Run and type taskmgr.exe in the Open: line. Click OK.

4. In the Image Name column, highlight explorer.exe and click End Process button.

Very Important: Leave Task Manager open and return to the Command Prompt Window

5. In the Command Prompt window, type:

DEL PathToFile /s /q

For Example, if I wanted to delete a file off my desktop (using Vista) called test.txt, I would type:

DEL C:\Users\User\Desktop\test.txt /s /q

Note: The path depends on your computer.

6. Return to the open Task Manager window and click File New Task to open the Create New Task window.



7. Type explorer.exe in the Open: line to restart the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

8. Click the OK button to close Task Manager and complete the operation.

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