title: Overcoming "It is being used by another person or program."
body: <p>Is there a way to unlock Windows files without downloading a utility?</p>
  
  <p>I have a few files on my Windows XP C: drive that are very old and very useless.  When I try to delete these files I get the following message:</p>
  
  <pre>
  Cannot delete FILENAME.zip: It is being used by another person or program
  
  Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.
  </pre>
  
  <p>No one is accessing this file.  No program is using it currently.  Windows has screwed up the file locking mechanism.  </p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to delete this file without downloading someone's unlocking utility?  I find the sites offering these programs to be a tad sketchy.</p>
  
  <p>How could you force the file to unlock from within a program?  I'm competent in Java, Perl, and Ruby, but I haven't seen anything among their libraries that would aid me here.</p>