Shoutbox

I installed fraps (the program that records games) and made a few videos. After i while i realised the program was unstable and made a lot of my games crash. So i uninstalled it.

I go into my c drive and see the folder is still in there...and what is this. 3.98GB of stuff! I look in and its got two huge videos i thought i'd deleted. I delete the entire folder.

It disappears into the recycle bin. I smirk to myself thinking of the rubbish i can now download and use my 3.98GB with more stupid and new things.

But then disaster...

It won't empty the recycle bin. "The file is in use"

But theres nothing running except for msn messenger...i've tried r estarting but still 'the file is in use'.

Whats the cure to solve this riddle?

I've had files like this, and I couldn't figure out what program was using them. Eventually though, I was able to delete the files.

IF it gives you a message that files are in use.  Just reboot your machine and you will be able to delete it.  Or go into regedit and delete the registry enteries that should do it.

You can try to restore the folder, and then use this program to unlock the file.

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Then shift+delete the folder so it won't go to the recycle bin.

*cough*

Delete everything out of "Processes" that you are able to, THEN try to delete it. Should work then.

You shouldn't just end a load of processes randomly. It's always a good idea to check what process(es) have a lock on a file before ending them.

Well, there are only a few processes, such as svchost & explorer that you wouldn't want to delete, otherwise, why wouldn't it be okay? You aught to reboot after something like that anyway.