the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program

I don't believe windows 7 had this issue, if I remember right?

It really does not matter what you are trying to do with the folder, renaming or deleting is a problem because it is still considered 'in use'.

You have options you could buy a Mac or go back to XP!

All answers from Microsoft regarding this ongoing problem, both here and elsewhere, are complete bull****, and you would have to know that is the case.

Why can't you just admit that this is a bug to which you have no answer, instead of wasting everyone's time chasing nonsense suggestions which do not and cannot work.

If you know of anyone, anywhere, who has ever come up with a practical and universally applicable fix to this problem we'd all be delighted to hear it. 

In the meantime, how about a bit of straight honesty.

Most if not all of these suggestions have been covered, in some cases several times.

I seriously doubt any solution will arrive unless it comes directly from MS, I also believe that solution won't happen until Windows 10...

And we should expect Microsoft to get it right in Windows 10 why? They didn't get it right in Windows 7 or any of its versions or in Windows 8 or any of its versions. This thread goes back three YEARS. I've no faith they'll get this or anything else right in upcoming product releases. The only reason I'm even here is that the university for which I work requires that we use Microsoft. At home, we're Apple all the way. Yeah, it was more expensive, but it more than pays for itself in absence of aggravation. Even my oldest iPad, which has been handed off to a teenager, still works like a dream. Immediate boot, smooth updates, no problems. (I repeat, even on Apple second generation iPad.)  Microsoft doesn't much care whether individual users have to deal with problems since they have such a massive corporate audience -- but it sucks for those of us who have to work in those offices. 

FWIW, I wasn't trying to delete anything. I was merely trying to change the name of a folder in Word -- which insisted I had a file open in the folder. I did not. I shut down Word and tried again. Same issue. For some reason, it believes there's a document open somewhere that prevents my renaming the folder. It's absurd.

this is annoying

the files or folders in question are not open in another program, windows is just refusing to let them be moved or deleted due a recent action ie: photographs moved elsewhere etc

I have been suffering from this for a long time and today it finally got on all of my nerves.

Like many people I tried the fixes on offer but nothing worked.

EXCEPT: what I had been doing was using the delete button on the file in Windows Explorer ... it gave me the message even if I hadn't used that file in years.

I then right clicked the file and clicked delete ... it deleted. I tried it on another file and it worked for that too.

Duncan