There’s nothing quite as maddening as being told by Windows that the file you want to delete is in use, and well, there’s nothing you can do about it. What’s worse is when rebooting your machine won’t release the operating system’s death-grip on the file you so desperately want to eradicate.

Enter: Unlocker by Cedrick Collomb

The software is free, installs quickly, and doesn’t require a reboot to start working. Simply right-click on the offending file (or entire directory of offending files) and you’ll be presented with a dialog listing the entries with locks. You’re given the option of killing the locking process, removing the locks, or canceling without doing anything.