How to delete a file being used by another program Here are some practical ways to dodge the pop-up and delete files that are in use by a program on your Windows PC.

Windows won't let you delete, move, or rename a file if a program is using it. Frustratingly, it also won't tell you which program is using the file so that you can solve the problem.

Deleting files in Windows 10 does not really delete the file. Security best practice requires deleted files to be completely overwritten more than once.