It's no secret that on Windows systems programs can use some files at the same time. As a rule, this applies to system components, and when you open an application to which such a file is associated, or when you try to delete Windows, it informs the user that the system or user file is occupied by another program. What to do? This game, a torrent application, or even a regular office editor, doesn’t matter. The essence of the problem does not change from this. But let's see what can be done in such a situation.
File is in use by another program: what does it mean
Actually, the essence of the issue is that a certain component currently uses not one, but two or more applications. In particular, this applies not only to running user programs, but also to system services running in the background.
As a rule, the problem that some file is occupied by another program when trying to access it mostly concerns device drivers, but there are exceptions. In the simplest case, you can give an example of a user simultaneously opening a document, say, first in Word, then in WordPad and in one of these applications trying to save the changes. Naturally, the system begins to spit, as they say. The same applies, for example, when using a webcam, when Skype is assigned a priority, and the user tries to launch another application, which in theory should also use it. And these are not isolated cases.
Quite often, other situations occur when the file is occupied by another program. What to do? The torrent file cannot be deleted! Why? Yes, simply because it is under active loading in the application itself (BitTorrent, uTorrent, etc.). You can get out of this situation quite simply by completing the download or distribution in the program or simply removing the download from the list. But this is the simplest thing that can be. Usually the situation is much more complicated.
The file is occupied by another program: what to do in the simplest case
As a rule, most ordinary users do not particularly want to delve into the essence of what is happening. The system reports that the file is occupied by another program. What to do, almost all users of this contingent know.
What exactly? Right! They just restart the computer. By the way, such a primitive way helps absolutely in all cases, however, this only applies to the completion of active processes associated with the system itself. If the work was carried out with documents in which the changes were made, there is no need to talk about any conservation. And many simply do not take this into account, and then they begin to bite their elbows.
Forced termination of a blocking process
The best way to get out of this situation is to check the blocking process. How do I know which process is using a file? Yes, very easy! To do this, you should use the well-known “Task Manager”, which can be called by the combination of Ctrl + Del + Alt (Ctrl + Esc + Alt) or the taskmgr command from the Run menu (Win + R). If the user at least roughly understands which application can access the file at the moment, you just need to find it in the list of active processes or services and apply the forced termination of the process with the corresponding button or through the right-click context menu.
But this method is suitable only for those cases when it can be assumed which process can access the specified file. But if there is not even a rough idea, it is better to use the Process Explorer utility , which can be downloaded from the official Microsoft resource.
Problems deleting files
Quite often, situations may arise when the system, when trying to delete, reports that the file is occupied by another program. What to do, we will consider a little later, but for now a few words about which particular components can not be removed.
Most often this applies to system components that are vital for Windows to work or are partially associated with these processes (although there are other situations). At the same time, no administrative rights help, no matter how hard you try (the system itself blocks the execution of actions that could harm it). However, in such a situation there is a way out. There are at least two options.
Using the Unlocker Utility
So, the system reports that the file is occupied by another program. What to do in this case? You can use the unique Unlocker utility. In some builds of Windows, it is already available from the beginning. If not, the application will have to download and install.
After that, the program integrates its own command lines in the right-click menu. Now you need to call such a menu and use the Unlocker command, select the process in the application window, and then click the "Kill the process" button from the bottom. Upon completion of the file, you can perform any operations.
Change Access Permissions
Now let's look at another situation with attempts to delete some data. In this case, the system also reports that the file is occupied by another program. What to do in such a situation? To delete the so-called undeletable files and folders, you just need to grant yourself the right rights.
You can do this in the context menu of a right-click on an object in the properties section. Here you will need to go to the security tab, click the "Advanced" button and change the current owner, then return to the previous window and use the "Change" button, and then check the boxes next to all the lines in the list in the menu.
Upon completion of all these operations, the file can be deleted without problems.
Other situations and solutions
It also happens that games do not want to work. Again, the system reports that some file is occupied by another program. What to do? SpinTires (truck racing simulator) also gives an error, which, they say, the files are different from the original.
In this case, this can only mean that the game is downloaded from an unreliable source, and therefore both the launch and access to the online passage are blocked. The solution may be to re-download the official version or install special “fixes” to fix problems with work.
Conclusion
As you can see, the situation is uncritical. If, for some reason, the system reports that the file is occupied by another program, what to do and what to make a decision to fix the problem, you can understand from everything suggested. Actually, any method of the user's choice can solve this situation. What to prefer? Many people advise using Unlocker, since this is the simplest solution, because the constant completion of a blocking process can be quite problematic. In some cases, you can use optimizers with fine-tuning startup, but if you exclude some important system processes from it, there is no guarantee that Windows will work correctly or will boot when you restart it. And this is even provided that most of these applications are considered to be harmless to the system. In general, in any case, caution does not hurt, so be careful.