“X cannot be done because file is open in another program” Possible to figure out which?

Question

Every once in a while I'm told by Windows that I cannot perform a certain action (like deleting a file) because "the file is open in another program". However, it never tells me which program.

Is there a way to figure that out? If not, is there a way I can do a unix-like rm -f on the file? Usually I can just reboot my machine, try the action first thing after startup and then I can do it, but not always, so it'd be handy to know an alternative solution...

Answer 1

"Unlocker" can come in really handy if you just dont care who has it locked and you just want to be rid of it.

http://www.emptyloop.com/unlocker/

Myself I only put it in the "SendTo" and it works ok, that way it is not another item in the regular context menu.

Answer 2

You can use Process Explorer and search for the file handle (Ctrl-F).