If you’re on Windows, then I bet you encounter Cannot Delete Folder/File the Source File May Be in Use error from time to time.

Sometimes the error goes away after you close all running applications, sometimes you need to reboot to actually delete that file or folder, and sometimes you are stuck. Why does this happen? Well, you get those errors when the file you are eager to delete is used by an application or a process, which doesn’t let you  delete the file.  Or you might be getting Access Is Denied error – that usually means that you are not logged in as administrator and don’t have enough privileges to access that particular file or folder.

But what if you are logged in as admin and are still getting all those errors? There are some great programs to help you.

LockHunter is a small Windows shell extension that integrates itself into Explorer right-click menu. All you need to do is right-click on a file or a folder you wish to delete and select What is locking this file? Then you can unlock it or delete it.

Lockhunter is especially handy if the file you are trying to delete is locked by some sort of malware, because it has an option to either close or delete the locking process. To do that click on Other and choose one of the options. Be careful and don’t delete any processes unless you are absolutely sure it’s malware and not a system process. Otherwise you can seriously harm your system. To check out which is which, go to Fileinspect.com and do a search. LockHunter works with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista. It supports both  32-bit and 64-bit. LockHunter is still in Beta, so there might be bugs.

Auslogics Task Manager is part of Auslogics BoostSpeed. It’s a great standard Windows Task Manager replacement with lots of extra options, including unlocking files and processes.

So, if you already have Auslogics BoostSpeed, you don’t need to wory about locked files. For those who would like to replace Windows Task Manager for free, I have good news – Auslogics Task Manager is available as a separate FREE tool. There are two versions available – an ordinary one that requires installation and a portable one.

Another good tool to unlock files and folders is Unlocker. Just like LockHunter, it’s a Windows Explorer extension. Unlocker removes file access restrictions that pervent a user from deleting, renaming, or moving a file. When you are trying to delete a locked file, simply right-click on it and select Unlocker from the context menu.

It will give you file info – Path Locked, PID, Handle, and Process Path. You can select Copy, Move, Rename, or Delete from the drop-down menu on the left. In addition to that you can terminate the process that is locking the file by selecting it and clicking Kill Process.

Unlocker works with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista.

Have you ever wondered which program runs which processes? I know that I have. Go on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Windows Task Manager and go to the Processes tab. Do you know exactly what each process does? If your answer is “Yes”, then you are a computer genius. If “No”, I have good news for you – now there is a place where you can inspect Windows processes and learn the truth about them -  Fileinspect.com.

You won’t need to download any software – just open the website and type in a process name in the search box. Each process is rated (safe-unsafe-dangerous) and thoroughly explained.

How Is This Site Useful?

Let me give you an example.

Even if you know exactly which programs are installed on your computer, you can’t be sure it hasn’t got any malware. When your PC is infected, it might start acting weird, slow down, display pop-ups, etc. Or it might not. Malware will just run different processes in the background and you will never have a clue until something terrible happens. Like all your passwords, bank details and other personal information getting stolen.

Unfortunately viruses, Trojans,  and other malware often mask themselves as safe files and processes. So even when you take a quick look at your Task Manager, you won’t notice a thing. For example, usually lsass.exe is a safe system file. But sometimes it’s a Trojan pretending to be lsass.exe.

That’s when Fileinspect.com will help you. Type in the process name and you will get all the necessary information about it. This way you’ll be able to detect and remove malware before it actually does anything to your system.

Also this process library can prove very useful if you are trying to establish what causes your computer to crash.

In all, this is an excellent website to help you troubleshoot your PC and find out more about Windows processes.

If you use Windows Vista, you know that it can be really slow on startup and take a lot of time to become responsive after the desktop loads. I’ve always found it really annoying, to put it mildly. Fortunately, it’s possible to speed up Vista startup.

The reason why Vista takes so long to load is that it does a lot in the background – it loads up processes, services, and applications, which is pretty time- and resource-consuming. The more there is to load, the longer it takes.

Of course, your Windows might take too long to load because of viruses or spyware, or because you need to upgrade your hardware, but that’s another story.

Here is how you can speed up Vista startup in two easy steps.

Tame Your Software

The first thing we start doing after getting a new computer is installing software. Some of the programs are essential, others are there just because we wanted to check them out and forgot to remove them. And a lot of those programs load on startup too, which causes significant system slow-downs.

So, the first thing you should do to improve Vista boot time is remove software you never use and stop applications you don’t always use loading on startup.

To remove programs you don’t need:

1. Click on the Start button, then go to Control Panel
2. Double-click on Programs and Features
3. There you can view all programs you have installed and remove the ones you don’t need

To manage your startup list, use Windows Defender:

1. Click on the Start button, type in defender and hit Enter
2. In Windows Defender, click Tools and then Software Explorer
3. You will get a list of your startup items. Don’t overdo it and disable your antivirus or other vital programs!

Control Windows Services

Apart from applications, Windows loads various services. Some of them are vital, others you never use. So why let them hog your computer?

To customize services, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button, type in services, and hit Enter
2. You’ll get a window with all the services and their short description
3. Be careful what you disable, because you might make your PC unbootable by mistake

If you’d like to be able to remove software, manage your startup items and services in just two clicks, try Auslogics BoostSpeed. Not only does it make removing programs and startup items fast and easy, it also gives you tailor-made advice on which services are safe to disable.

Hope these tips were helpful and your Vista now loads faster!

Computers are like pets  – they need care to keep them healthy, responsive, and fast. In this post I’m going to share with you some tips that will help keep your computer in top shape. If you want to improve your computer’s speed and performance – read on.

1. If your computer suddenly becomes really slow and starts acting up, the first thing you need to do is scan it for viruses and spyware, because in most cases they are the culprit. There are great free anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, just go to download.com and do a search. Remember to download only programs that got lots of positive user reviews.

2. Test your RAM to ensure error-free performance. Failing memory can be the cause of numerous errors, and the worst part is that they may seem random. So, use the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool from time to time. Vista users can find it on their Windows installation disk and XP users will need to create a CD.

3. Just as it is a good idea to test RAM, it’s a must to check your hard drive regularly. To do that run Check Disk:

• Go to My Computer
• Find the disk you want to check, right-click on it and go to Properties
• In the Properties dialog  box click Tools
• Click Check Now
• Check both options in the dialog box that will appear and click Start
• Most likely you will get a message that Check Disk wants exclusive access to the disk and wants to start right after your reboot. Click OK
• Restart your computer

4. And last, but not least, always remember to clean your disks weekly, clean the Registry once a month, defrag your hard drive at least once a month, compact the Registry to keep it as small as possible, and keep your Windows and drivers up to date.

All this will help you keep your computer fast and stable. There is no need to wait for your PC to become infected with viruses and spyware, cluttered with junk, and show you the blue screen of death to start performing basic maintenance.

This post is an attempt to help all those customers who now and again come to us with this very question. Below is the list of things you could try in order to resolve the computer freezing issues before running out and buying a new, faster computer.

I assume you have already tried running Auslogics BoostSpeed and fixing registry errors, removing junk files and defragmenting your hard disk drives. This will most likely be your first and only required fix to bring your computer back to life. However if this doesn’t help, read on.

Upgrade RAM

If your computer is slow (but not freezing for long periods of times), this can be caused by low system memory (RAM). The amount of RAM you need depends on the operating system. Click on Start (or Windows Orb), then right click on the “Computer” item in the Windows Start menu and select “Properties” (Windows Vista/Windows 7). You can get system information from Auslogics System Information, as well.

Obtaining System Information

If you’re running Windows XP or Windows 2000 you must have at least 512 MB of memory on your computer (note that 1 GB equals 1,024 MB of memory). Windows Vista and Windows 7 users will need at least 1 GB of RAM for comfortable work, better yet upgrade it to 2 GB. Having 3 to 4 GB installed may be useful if you work with image processing, 3D animation or CAD software. Upgrading RAM is best left to a professional unless you’re comfortable opening up your computer.

Scan for Viruses and Spyware

Nothing (not even increasing computer memory) will speed up your computer if it is infected with certain viruses or spyware. Be sure to scan your computer with the latest antivirus / antispyware solutions.

You can try antivirus programs such as AVAST! or AVG (they both have free versions). There isn’t a single solution that can detect all viruses and spyware.  I used to run AVAST! on my PC, however have uninstalled it after it failed to detect a virus. Don’t trust one single program and run a few. Also download and run PC Tools ThreatFire. This program can detect “trojans”, which is a special kind of spyware that hides itself from normal antivirus scanners.

Note that some  antivirus/antispyware programs are resource hogs themselves, especially those that are “all-in-one” solutions. They monitor everything that’s happening on your computer and can therefore slow it down considerably. Try uninstalling your all-in-one solution to see if your PC gets much faster.

Disable “Resource-Hungry” Programs

As you keep on using your computer and installing new software, programs get added to your computer startup list. This means that at any given time Windows may be running dozens of programs it doesn’t really need. Some of them are “resource-hungry”.

To find out which of the programs are using up the resources, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard (all three at the same time) and then click on the “Task Manager” (alternatively, use Ctrl+Shift+Esc instead). In Task Manager switch to Processes tab, then click on the “CPU” column header. This will show all the CPU hungry processes on top of the list. If you’re running Windows Vista or a newer version of Windows you might want to click on the “Show processes from all users” button /checkbox at the bottom of the Task Manager window. Ignore “System” or “System Idle Process” and look for all processes that take up 10% or more CPU. These are the ones that slow down your computer. You can also try sorting the processes by memory, as huge memory usage can also slow a computer down.

Now, try running Startup Manager (part of BoostSpeed) to disable startup programs you don’t need. Startup Manager will show you the program description (and a link to Internet description for more details). Disabling a startup program is safe because you will be able to enable it back. If you’re an experienced user you can try running msconfig (click Start, Run…, then type msconfig and then hit Enter) where you can see more advanced options.

Hardware Problems

Sometimes computer just freezes even though programs use very little system resources. This can indicate a hardware problem. Here’s a short list of likely hardware issues.

• Bad or corrupt RAM (causes sudden system reboots or freezes)
• High CPU temperature (causes sudden system shutdowns, system refusing to boot up, beeping)
• Bad drivers (they can cause a Blue Screen or Death, or a sudden system reboot)

Troubleshooting these problems goes beyong the scope of this post, but we will get back to this in later posts.

When Nothing Else Helps

If none of the steps above helped you, you can still fix the problem by methodically removing the installed software one by one. To do that use Uninstall manager in Auslogics BoostSpeed or click Start, then Control Panel, then click on “Uninstall a program” (it can also be called Add and Remove Software, etc). Start by removing the least necessary software programs and see if your computer gets better as you go. This will allow you to find out which of the software programs caused the freezing problem. If nothing else helps, you can resort to simply re-installing Windows. Unless the problem is related to hardware faults or inadequate computer specification, this solution will most certainly help.

Sometimes installing software or updating drivers doesn’t go as smooth as it should. If you’ve ever had trouble with installing an application and failing, Clean Boot might help you solve that problem.

I hope that most of you have heard of Safe Mode – a way to boot Windows using a minimalistic configuration to troubleshoot major issues. Unfortunately, Safe Mode is not good for installing programs, since it’s pretty restrictive.

Clean Boot is a less known startup mode and is great for troubleshooting software and driver updates issues. When in Clean Boot, your computer will load only programs that are absolutely required by the OS, but it will not apply Safe Mode restrictions.

To boot your computer in Clean Boot mode:

1. Go to Start and click Run
2. Type in msconfig and click OK
3. Under the General tab, you should see that your computer is on Normal Startup. Change that to Selective Startup and after that uncheck Process system.ini file, Process win.ini file, and Load startup items.
4. 
5. After that go to the Services tab and check the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox. Then click on the Disable All button.
6. 
7. Click OK. You will be prompted to restart your computer. You will get a message warning you that you have used the System Configuration Utility to change the way Windows starts. Click OK.

After that your system will restart and boot in Clean Boot mode. Do all the troubleshooting and return to Normal Startup mode. To do that:

1. Go to Start and click Run
2. Type in msconfig and press OK
3. Under the General tab select Normal Startup
4. Click OK and restart your computer

Your computer will boot as usual after restarting.

If you encounter the same problems again, it means the cause lies with an entry in your System.ini file.

If not, repeat the process for each of the Process Win.ini file, Load startup items, and Load system services check boxes in turn until the problem reappears. The last item that you have selected will be the cause of the problem.

Every Windows user has encountered the Windows Stop Error, also called the Blue Screen of Death, at least once. Quite often the problem gets solved with a simple reboot and doesn’t return. But most likely the BSOD is the first sign of some major hardware or software problems. If that is the case, your screen will keep turning that lovely shade of blue. That is frustrating, yes, but all is not lost. There are ways to deal with it. You can at least establish what exactly is wrong with your computer, or maybe even solve the problem by yourself.

What Is the Blue Screen of Death?

You get the Blue Screen of Death, or to call it properly the Windows stop message, when Windows detects an error from which it can’t recover. So your OS stops and gives you diagnostic information displayed on that blue screen.

If you get the Windows stop message, don’t panic, but read what’s on that screen first. The information on it is divided into four sections.

First you will see the error number (in hexadecimal format). It is followed by information on what caused the system to stop. Then you get the name of the error, which can be difficult to understand and looks something like this: DRIVER_IRQI_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.

The second section contains general advice and troubleshooting steps. I can’t say that it’s very helpful, because most of the times it just prompts you to restart your computer.

The third part is very important, because it contains driver information. If a driver was the probable reason why the Blue Screen appeared, it will be listed there.

The last section of the stop error report is “debug port and status information”.

Basic Troubleshooting

First of all, it’s very important to write down all useful information from the BSOD – the error number, the error name, and any file names from the “driver information” section. Even if you can’t figure it out yourself, it might be useful to show it to a computer technician.

Sometimes your system is configured in such a way, that the computer restarts automatically before you manage to read anything on the Blue Screen. To change this, XP users should right-click on My Computer – go to Properties - Advanced. Under Startup and Recovery click the Settings button. A new window will open. Under the System Failure heading uncheck Automatically restart.

After that try restarting your computer. If the Blue Screen of Death appeared when booting Winodws, you may be taken to  a troubleshooting menu, where you’ll need to select Attempt to start Windows normally. If everything is fine after that, continue using your computer as usual, but store the error information for future reference.

It’s extremely frustrating when the BSOD reoccurs randomly. Usually it means that anything could have caused it. In this case the first step would be to try booting in Safe Mode (press F8 repeatedly when the POST screen appears and then choose Boot in Safe Mode). If it boots fine, most likely the problem lies with malware, software, or the drivers. Try running full anti-virus and anti-spyware scans and if any infections are found, get rid of them. Then try restarting XP the usual way – it should work if malware was the problem that caused the Windows Stop Error.

If it doesn’t help, try booting back into Safe Mode and try System Restore.  Go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore. Restore your system to the most recent point that was created before you started having the BSOD problem.

Try to remember – did you install any new software or drivers right before you started getting the Blue Screen? If yes, it would be a good idea to uninstall the software (preferably using an Uninstall manager, like the one in BoostSpeed, because it guarantees complete uninstallation) and roll back the drivers, since they are likely to be the wrongdoers.

Of course, there are many other things that could have caused the Windows Stop Error and there is no simple solution, but hopefully these tips can help you get rid of the Blue Screen of Death.

Compared to Windows XP, Vista is a much heavier operating system. It has lots of great features, but they can slow down your computer a lot, especially if it hasn’t got a powerful CPU or enough RAM.

Before your patience snaps and you spend a lot of money on new hardware, follow these simple tips to make Vista lighter and faster.

1) Disable Windows Vista Aero

Great looks come at a cost. In case of Aero it’s heavy CPU, RAM, and video card usage. Aero can use as much as 15% of your CPU. And if you are using a laptop, keep in mind that it affects your battery life. With the Aero theme turned off battery life is equal to or even better than if you’re using Windows XP. So it would be a good idea to disable Aero if you want your battery to last longer.

Turning off the Aero theme is easy:

1. Right-click your desktop and click Personalize
2. Click on Window Color and Appearance. It will look different from what you are used to.
3. Click Open classic appearance properties for more color options
4. Now select any theme you like, for example the Windows Classic theme

2) Use ReadyBoost to Increase Performance

Windows Vista has a lot of features to help older and less powerful computers run it. ReadyBoost is one of them. It lets you use a USB drive as a secondary memory cache, before hard drive caching. Of course, it is no substitution for RAM, but it does make your computer faster.

There are certain requirements your USB drive has to meet:

• It has to be USB 2.0
• It must be at least 256MB (though there is no point in using a device smaller than 1GB)
• It has to be able to read at 3.5MB/s
• It has to be able to write at 2.5MB/s

If you don’t know whether your USB drive is ReadyBoost compatible, plug it in and give it a try anyway. If it is, an AutoPlay box should appear with a dialog stating that you can use it for ReadyBoost. If you have AutoPlay disabled, do the following:

1. Go to Computer, right-click the removable storage device and select Properties
2. If the drive is compatible, you will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on it.
3. Then select Use this device and set the amount of space that you want to be used for ReadyBoost system file
4. Click OK and you’re done

3) Speed Up External Hard Drives

Windows Vista operates internal and external USB hard drives differently. The great feature for USB thumb drives is that write caching is disabled. That means you can safely remove them without any risk of losing data. However, if a large external hard drive is always connected to your computer, disabled write caching can decrease performance.

To turn write caching back on to improve your external hard drive performance:

1. Go to Start, right-click Computer and select Manage
2. Then go to Device Manager on the side menu
3. Expand Disk drives and find your external hard drive
4. Right-click it and select Properties
5. Open the Policies tab and select Optimize for performance
6. Check Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced performance
7. 
8. Press OK and reboot

4) Boost SATA Disk Performance

It is also possible to speed up SATA disk drives by enhancing write caching. Here’s how:

1. Click Start, then right-click Computer and select Manage
2. Go to Device Manager
3. Expand Disk Drives
4. Right-click your hard drive and go to Properties
5. On the Policies tab check Enable advanced performance
6. Press OK and close the Device Manager

The downside of enhancing write caching is that if you experience a power cut, the risk of data loss and corruption increases. So be careful if you don’t have a battery backup. If you are a laptop user, the danger of losing data is less, since your laptop battery is always there to save you.