How typically have you ever been in the course of clearing off your desktop by deleting a bunch of unused recordsdata, just for Windows to inform you that it’s in use by one other program? Except that Windows typically doesn’t inform you which program is utilizing it, so that you shrug like John Travolta in that one Pulp Fiction scene. The newest addition to the immanently helpful PowerToys assortment can repair that drawback. The File Locksmith software is obtainable in the latest version of the program, v0.64.0.

Microsoft

Using the software is tremendous straightforward. In Windows Explorer, right-click the file that’s obstinately refusing to be deleted (or in use in some other method), then click on “What’s using this file?” The File Locksmith software will then provide you with a listing of executables which are actively accessing the file, together with useful information on the method ID and consumer. You additionally get a fast “End task” button, so that you don’t need to dive into the Task Manager to inform this system to buzz off.

Microsoft’s PowerToys is quickly becoming a must-have addition for nearly any Windows consumer. The new addition was noticed by BleepingComputer, but it surely’s solely the newest in a rising assortment of super-small, super-useful little instruments within the assortment. It’s the seventh new addition to the gathering simply this 12 months, together with an optical character recognition tool, a fast method so as to add accented characters, and a quick way to capture GIFs.