Windows is currently working with a file?

ElectroBlaster · 9 May 2008 at 17:37

Im getting really annoyed at this problem "Windows is currently working with a file Either wait for it to finish, or close it before you quit windows".

This seems to only effect one out of my 5 pc's. All of them run XP SP2 slipstream and this problem has only recently appeared in the last month. The pc will refuse to shutdown and has to be pulled from the mains to clear it.

XP will never complete an mpeg2 file move, only copy and delete work? Ive wiped xp a number of times now and even cleared the hard drives completely with fresh partitions. Im using zonealarm antivirus and nothing ever appears to be wrong. Im really confused...

davethe11 · 9 May 2008 at 18:03

sounds like a process is using a file and wont release it, try booting into safe mode and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, you want to try to stop processes before you shut down to isolate the culprit. Hope I havn't misunderstood your prob.

MarcLister · 9 May 2008 at 18:18

Try unlocker. http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

ElectroBlaster · 9 May 2008 at 18:23

MarcLister said:
Try unlocker. http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

I had a go with this program and it fails. This file problem only seems to effect mpg files for some reason and the only thing that keeps changing software wise is zonealarm with its updates. Also this problem reared its head ever since I introduced two sata drives in with some ide ones.

ElectroBlaster · 9 May 2008 at 18:25

davethe11 said:
sounds like a process is using a file and wont release it, try booting into safe mode and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, you want to try to stop processes before you shut down to isolate the culprit. Hope I havn't misunderstood your prob.

I started off with a really basic install of xp with only the most needed app's and for the last two days the machine has been perfect. Then late last night the problem comes back and I havent installed anything new, I just dont know where to start

beastman · 1 Jul 2008 at 10:58

ElectroBlaster said:
Im getting really annoyed at this problem "Windows is currently working with a file Either wait for it to finish, or close it before you quit windows".

This seems to only effect one out of my 5 pc's. All of them run XP SP2 slipstream and this problem has only recently appeared in the last month. The pc will refuse to shutdown and has to be pulled from the mains to clear it.

XP will never complete an mpeg2 file move, only copy and delete work? Ive wiped xp a number of times now and even cleared the hard drives completely with fresh partitions. Im using zonealarm antivirus and nothing ever appears to be wrong. Im really confused...

Did you solve this?
I'm having the same problem.

bledd · 1 Jul 2008 at 11:00

try removing ZA, it's total balls

ElectroBlaster · 1 Jul 2008 at 20:46

Im starting to think its zonealarm aswell. This problem has never been sold and it happens to nearly every single pc I have. The problem is I havent found anything better than zonealarm and ive been paying for this program every 12months.

Also the VNC side hasnt been sorted after all this time, it constantly picks on vnc saying its a remote trojan/keylogger so the only way around it is to turn off the extended virus definations which kinda undos the virus killers ability to stop viruses. Bloody computers lol.

Dracata · 4 Jul 2008 at 10:21

ElectroBlaster said:
Im starting to think its zonealarm aswell. This problem has never been sold and it happens to nearly every single pc I have. The problem is I havent found anything better than zonealarm and ive been paying for this program every 12months.

Also the VNC side hasnt been sorted after all this time, it constantly picks on vnc saying its a remote trojan/keylogger so the only way around it is to turn off the extended virus definations which kinda undos the virus killers ability to stop viruses. Bloody computers lol.

Unfortunately this is a case of ZoneAlarm being overly pro-active and incorrectly flagging VNC as malicious software

we've been on to ZoneAlarm several times about this, a couple of times they have addressed it only to reintroduce the problem with updated virus definitions.

Dolph · 4 Jul 2008 at 10:25

ElectroBlaster said:
Im starting to think its zonealarm aswell. This problem has never been sold and it happens to nearly every single pc I have. The problem is I havent found anything better than zonealarm and ive been paying for this program every 12months.

Also the VNC side hasnt been sorted after all this time, it constantly picks on vnc saying its a remote trojan/keylogger so the only way around it is to turn off the extended virus definations which kinda undos the virus killers ability to stop viruses. Bloody computers lol.

I hate to say this, but just about every firewall type program is better than zonealarm...

bledd · 4 Jul 2008 at 10:34

bledd. said:
try removing ZA, it's total balls

you're right there mate

MarcLister · 4 Jul 2008 at 12:53

Any particular reason you are quoting yourself bledd? :confused:

IAmATeaf · 4 Jul 2008 at 21:49

MarcLister said:
Any particular reason you are quoting yourself bledd?

Must be alter-ego ala Hereos

Comodo is a free and well rated firewall software, I abandoned ZA quite a while ago as I always found that when freshly installed it would be fine but a month or so later and it seemed to delay the appearance of a usable desktop, so you logged on and couldn't start an app for what seemed like 2 odd minutes. If I then removed ZA and re-installed it would again be fine for a month or 2 but then back to it's slowing the loading of the desktop again.