Won't let me delete certain dirs

[Bob S]

I was doing some house cleaning on my hard drive. When I tried to
delete several directories XP would not allow it. It said that another
person or program was using the directory.

Facts that could be helpful:
1. I am the only one using this computer.
2. I'm on a home lan (workgroup), but these directories are NOT shared.
3. The names of the directories are Music (the contents of which I
have now moved to "my documents\my music) & c:\pictures\Professionalpix.
4. The directories are now empty.
5. There are no other programs running on my computer that I know of.

Could somebody tell me how to delete these directories?

Thank you.

 

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

If you were to name the folders, I would tell you that they are "protected"
system folders. But, you didn't....

 

[Bob S]

I am sorry. I did a poor job of naming the folders in #3 below. The
folders were:
c:\music; and c:\pictures\professional;

Do you think these are "protected" system folders?

 

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

If you have "pointed" to these folders from within another programs options,
then yes, they are in use by that other program and may be protected. I have
seen this happen upon rare occasions. Find the program that is using these
folders and direct them to use the proper folders in your "My Documents".
Then you may be able to delete these folders

 

[Bob S]

Hi Crusty.

I rechecked and the two directories were c:\pictures and c:\downloads.
I have not been able to find any programs that have these directories in
their options. Do you have any suggestions?