

Try to delete this file normally and you will get a “You require permission from Administrators to make changes to this file” even if you’re the administrator. Knowing this, we’re going to perform a very simple test of trying to delete an avast! antivirus file called “avast5.ini” using Windows 7 圆4 while the program itself is still running.

Software such as anti-virus files are difficult to delete simply because the software tries to protect itself from malicious processes and therefore makes its files very hard to tamper with by setting advanced permissions. Here’s a selection of 7 different file unlocking and deleting tools for you to remove your difficult to get rid of files and folders. Other things like malicious software, security software or crashed programs can sometimes be to blame and can stop a file being deleted or moved. One of the worst programs to actually cause this problem is the Explorer.exe process itself getting a lock on a file or even external devices like USB flash drives so you are unable to safely remove them. Quite often the reason why this error message has appeared isn’t immediately obvious because you haven’t got any programs running that you think might interfere with the file concerned.įiles become locked because they are still being used by a Windows process or service and cannot be touched until Windows releases the file. Usually something like “Cannot delete files: Access is denied” or “The file you’re trying to modify is being used by Windows or other application” will pop up on screen. But we’ve found it much easier using one of the methods we’ve detailed here.One of the most annoying errors you will receive while working in Windows is the message that for some reason you cannot delete a file. For example, you could use a program to schedule a file deletion when you next restart your computer-the file will be automatically deleted when you reboot. There are a variety of other ways to delete locked files. Delete (or move) the file in safe mode and restart your computer.

If you’re using Windows 8 or 10, you’ll have to access safe mode from the boot options menu. If you’re on Windows 7, press the F8 key during the startup process and select Safe Mode to boot into safe mode. If the file is being locked by a startup program, you can boot to safe mode to delete it instead. RELATED: Three Ways to Access the Windows 10 and 8 Boot Options Menu You should be able to delete, move, or rename the file as soon as Windows comes back up. If you have a stubborn file or folder and don’t want to use any of the tricks here, you can try restarting your computer.

Generally, a file won’t be locked after you restart your computer-unless the program that locked it is a startup program that locks the file as soon as you log in.
