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Quite often, a situation arises when it is impossible to delete or move a file due to the fact that it is used by some application. It is sometimes very difficult to figure out what kind of application or program this is, but it is also undesirable to leave unnecessary garbage on the computer. In such situations, a small utility will come to the rescue — Unlocker.

Installed on your computer, it is able to automatically detect all blocking applications or programs and stop their work, after which deleting, moving or renaming a file is easy and simple. Moreover, all of the above applies not only to ordinary processes, but also to the processes involved in the operation of the kernel of the operating system itself. You can download a useful program from the official website of the developers or from many other sites that distribute free software on the Internet. The latest version of the program exists in two versions, for regular 32-bit systems and for 64-bit ones, and can work correctly under any operating system of the Windows family.

Now a little more about the installation procedure and the very work with this utility.

Installing the Unlocker program

The Unlocker installation procedure is standard and differs little from the installation of similar programs. To start the process, you just need to run the Unlocker***.exe file (in the name, instead of asterisks, the version of the program is indicated) and the first dialog box will appear in front of you.

Here you should select the installation language. It should be noted that the program supports many languages, including Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian. After making your selection, click «OK». The next window is a simple informational message.

You just need to click «Next» and read the license agreement in the next window.

Or you can not read (and who reads them?), just click on the «Accept» button and proceed to study the next window.

Here, the creators of the program recommend installing a toolbar for the browser along with their product. You can agree with their proposal and just click on the «Next» button, or you can refuse, and then you should uncheck the box opposite the line shown in the screenshot. The choice is yours, but it should be borne in mind that any additions, in addition to convenience, also significantly slow down the work. After making a choice, of course, you need to click on the «Next» button and look at the next window.

In this window, the program installer is interested in the place on the hard disk where the program should be installed. Since it takes just a meager amount of space, it is recommended to leave everything as it is and continue the installation by clicking on the appropriate button. If, for some reason, installation at this address is not desirable, then you can set your own path. To do this, just click on the «Browse» button and in the following window that opens:

Specify the destination folder. Then you should click «OK» to close this window and click «Next» in the main window. In the next window that opens, you need to select which components to install.

For the convenience of further work with the program, it is recommended to embed it in the explorer. To do this, leave a checkmark in front of the corresponding item, as in the screenshot. All other settings already depend only on personal preferences and desires. After making a choice, you must click on the button labeled «Install». At the end of the installation process on the computer, the program will display an information window about the successful completion of the installation.

Click the «Finish» button and you can proceed to explore the capabilities of the program itself.

Using the Unlocker

If a window of this type pops up when you try to delete, rename or move a file

with a message that the operating system cannot do this, that is, there are two ways to proceed.

First way

If you selected the «Integrate into Explorer» item during the installation of the program, then just select the desired file and call the context menu by clicking the right mouse button.

Next, in the drop-down list, select the Unlocker item to launch the program of the same name. Then the following window will appear:

The entire top part is dedicated to displaying the processes using this file in real time. There can be many of them, and if all of them do not fit in the window, then a scroll bar appears on the right. At the bottom of the window there are buttons for managing processes and a small menu on the left side for selecting actions with the file. If you need to delete a file, then you should select this action in the left window and click on the «Unlock all» button. Sometimes it happens that it is not possible to unlock the file, then you should select processes one at a time and click on the «Delete Process» button. Sometimes, when critical processes terminate, a reboot may be required to delete files. This is not to be feared, such is the structure of the operating system.

Second way

If, during the installation of the utility, you unchecked the box opposite the «Integrate into Explorer» line and did not install this component, then you should launch the Unlocker program through the «Start» menu.

To do this, click «All Programs» in the menu and look for a folder with the appropriate name in the list of all programs. After opening it, left-click on the line «StartUnlocker» and a window will appear with an overview of files and folders.

In it, you should find the file that you want to delete and click on the «OK» button. The window described above will open next, displaying the processes. The algorithm for further actions is exactly the same as in the previous case. Which of the two methods to use is up to you.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that some antiviruses mistake this utility for malware. This is understandable, because it is able to interfere with the work of many system processes, but in fact the program is absolutely safe. That’s actually all you need to know about such a very small and very useful utility.