Windows won't let you delete that file?

Have you ever come up on a file that just would not be deleted? I have, several times. It can be frustrating. Here I will detail ways in which I dealt with the issue on separate occasions. 

1. Simplest method is to download applications that address the issue specifically. 

Unlocker is one such application.

LockHunter is another.

2. Kill the suspected application using Task Manager. To get to the tast manager, simply press and hold CTRL+ALT+DELETE on your keyboard. This will bring up a screen with the option to start the Task Manager. If you suspect that Windows Explorer is the culprit, kill the explorer.exe task and restart it by going to File, New task and typing explorer, in the task manager. 

3. Restart the Operating system in Safe mode. Often this is done by pressing F8 while the system boots and selecting "safe mode"

4. This one I had to do recently. I could not figure what was holding the file from being deleted or renamed. I had to boot into the other operating system I had on the computer. You can do this if you dual boot, or it can be done via a boot CD such as Hiren's BootCD. Simply boot into DOS or any of the provided file management tools on the CD.

Good Luck

Notes: Hiren's BootCD is a highly recommended tool