I hate windows with a burning passion, but if you must use it then you should install Powertoys. Among the many useful utilities is file locksmith which will not only tell you what program is holding onto a file but also allows you to close it.
Edit: Also the “Awake” feature will keep your computer from falling asleep. Pair this with Caffeine.exe from Zhorn software (free download) and it will keep you green on MS Teams. One of the other useful features is the text extractor, which will capture any written text on your screen and copy it to your clipboard.
Agreed powertoys should just be installed by default
PowerToys are basically functional tools that the Microsoft Engineers want to add but can’t due to needing to convince the Product Manager that adding said functionality will increase the bottom line.
While I tend to agree, I feel the average user would just end up shooting themself in the foot with such tools readily available.
Yeah especially because they tend to add new features and enable them by default. I dislike having to use windows, but powertoys is where actual UX and power user improvements happen, so it’s a must. But like if “auto dark mode” was turned on globally there would be people shooting their computers for being dark on their property
Sys internals also… So many useful features for free but you have to know to install
I did this exact thing yesterday and Powertoys told me no one was using the file. Now it will just exist forever because I gave up.
Obviously I deleted powertoys after it failed to help and now all I can be is glad that this isn’t my main OS.
Also with the “always on top” powertoy feature, you can put a little Sharkle in the corner of your screen to keep you company!
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Kind of like dealing with your tax return
“You need to pay taxes”
“How much do I owe?”
“You need to figure that out but I already know the answer”
“Then tell me the answer and we can stop wasting time”
“No you have to guess”
“OK, I guess $100”
Two months later … “You guessed wrong, the answer is $102”
In my country I don’t need to file taxes at all unless I’m self-employed. As an employee I can do it voluntarily to profit from tax reduction for stuff the government has no data on, eg. how long my commute is.
I used to teach Microsoft Access:
“Scan Database For Errors” returned 1 of 2 messages:
“No Errors Found”
“Errors Found”
Good luck!
Sounds like an easy win with the “No Errors Found”
Man, Microsoft Access got a lot of well-deserved hate, but it was a very easy way for someone who didn’t really know what they were doing to set up a relational database.
But everyone thought, “We’ll just continue to treat Excel spreadsheets like a database, that’ll be fine.”
Access fills a very specific niche that is right in between “too big for Excel” and “too small for SQL Express”.
The problem is that this window is very narrow, and after just a small amount of growth, it suddenly makes sense to migrate again to proper SQL. In my(admittedly limited) experience it was almost always better to just skip Access.
I wish there was something in between but based on SQLite.
Search for “low-code app frameworks”, there are a whole bunch, they fill the same niche now that Access once did (though these tend to be cloud based, not local sqlite). Baserow is a great open-source example.
Me: Hey Linux can you ________ ?
Linux: OK, I trust that you know what you’re doing. It’s on you if it breaks something.
That’s how a computer should work.
rm -rf /
You sure?
Yes.
Okeee-
rm -rf /
Were you sure?
Ah, yes, the classic UNIX confirmation prompt.
Me: I’m going to remove the boot device
Linux: lol sure thing boss
It’s especially fun in corporate IT.
“What do you mean user: [me] already has it open? I’ve never been in this folder in life, and I just rebooted!”
Or when it says it’s open by a former employee with a disabled account.
If it’s on a network share, you also can’t rely on the normal tricks with process monitor and the like to look for locks locally.
It’s one thing I’ll praise about using office documents with OneDrive and (Azure based) Sharepoint in a well configured corporate setting: Microsoft finally caught up to Google Doc’s collaboration functionality, and it handles “merge conflicts” fairly well for other file types (add the machine name as a suffix to the file name, keep both copies, and give a big warning message).
Sometimes if it was the last folder you had open the thumbnail file is still locked by explorer. Open a different folder with stuff in it then try deleting it again.
This is why I have trust issues.
Or
- “oh I know which software is blocking it”
- Can you close it?
- “Nah, I ain’t a snitch, go do it yourself”
In these situations, I use Unlocked to delete, move, rename, etc.
lsof : I got you bro
