I recently downloaded a program that didn't work. I got an error on installing it. So I tried to delete it and I couldn't. I kept getting a message about it being in use by another program. So I checked what was running, and it wasn't listed anywhere in the Task Manager. Next I did a virus scan, and ran Ad Aware, and Spybot S&D without any results. Rebooting didn't help either. I did some searching, and found out this isn't an uncommon problem with XP. It turns out the program using it was probably Windows Explorer. Rather than trying to delete it in Safe Mode, I did a little looking around, and found a neat little free utility. It's called "Move on Boot". It lets you move, delete or rename a program as Windows boots up. You just pick what program to do what to, and it does it the next time you boot up your pc. It worked like a charm.

GIbin Soft Utilities