Nathaniel’s Find of the Day
A recent piece of handy-dandy free software I recently found is Unlocker. It installs an explorer extension that will allow you to see which processes have hooks into the file you are trying to change or delete and can kill them, allowing you to delete or change said file. If after that you cannot delete the file, you can schedule an action on next boot. This is not portable, and must be installed. It is a very lightweight application and I suggest un-checking everything except “Explorer Assistant” when installing so you get the right click context.
Update: I hate saying something can’t be done so I took 5 minutes and tested the application in a portable context and found that it does not have to be installed on every machine you use it on. Once you install it on your machine, you can take the application folder and move it from machine to machine and use it like that. You won’t get the right click explorer extension, but you can right click on the file in question and choose “open with” and open it with the Unlocker exe. You can also drag the file onto the unlocker exe. Be aware that unlocker deletes and bypasses the recycle bin, so use it carefully.
I tested further and found that you only need two files out of the install folder for this to work, Unlocker and the Unlocker driver. Those 2 files are attached. When you run it in this fashion a 3rd file will auto create for the config.
I tested this on my user.dat file with is always locked by the system.
Again, the app can be found at : http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
DL Link http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/unlocker1.8.7.exe
