Advent T9408, Intel Core2 CPU, 320GB,1.8GHz, Vista home premium.

When in 'My documents' I am able to open files and delete anything within each document, but every time I TRY to delete a FULL or empty file I get a box open stating 'The action can't be completed because the folder is open in another programme' (Close the folder and try again) - which I do, but still can not delete the folder.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.Do it in safe mode...Or use "move on boot" http://download.cnet.com/EMCO-MoveOnBoot/3000-2094_4-10397293.htmlWe may want to be careful here with the file removal...what is it your getting rid of ? ?First of all - Thank you both for your help so far.

I tried the 'Move on boot' download and it has worked fine - again thank you for the help.
I'll also try doing this in 'Safe mode' next time I start up - thanks for that help also.

What I'd ultimately like to do is be able to simply delete the files as I used to be able to.
What is causing this to happen?
Is there anything I can do to revert to what I was able to do before?

The files aren't important or vital to the running of the computer, they are simply files created to hold information until a job is done which then can be discarded.More info on the app that is creating these files will be helpful on finding an easy way to do this.Forgive me for being thick here, I don't fully understand - these are ordinary files which hold a variety of documents lifted or created by myself from a variety of programmes or from articles downloaded and used elsewhere then later discarded.

I've just realised that there is another problem - when I try to move a folder into another folder I get the same original message posted above (The action can't be completed ETC.,)Take ownership of troubled folder: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-take-ownership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/
C:\>del /?
Deletes ONE or more files.


names Specifies a list of one or more files or directories.
Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a
directory is specified, all files within the directory
will be deleted.

/P Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
/F Force deleting of read-only files. /S Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
/A SELECTS files to delete based on attributes
attributes R Read-only files S System files
H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving
- Prefix meaning not

If Command Extensions are enabled DEL and ERASE change as follows:

The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows
you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.

C:\>