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

I think the only reason MAFury is upset is because Microsoft has yet to respond.  I do not blame him because all of these "workarounds" are old "workarounds" for any locked up computer by going to task manager and killing any process.  On top of which being a "user" you shouldn't really clog up a forum where everyone is looking for a good solid fix, and not just a bunch of non IT people trying to fix something that they know nothing about.  As an IT professional, seeing 6 pages of useless "workarounds" that I can't tell my end-users to just click here, then hit F6, then click the mouse 3 times just isn't going to do.  So Microsoft, ANSWER for the bug you created, and all the "users", unless you have a solid fix, please don't clog the forum.  Thanks

Windows 8 is a good OS much better then win 7 much faster, you just need to learn how to  run it

Best thing to do, since we see no resolutions that work, is to return Windows 8 back to MS.  I have tried every recommendation with negative results, e.g. View... my 'Launch folder windows in a separate process' was already disabled.  I would not be in this terrible problem if I hadn't accidently spilled juice on my previous Toshiba laptop.  I had to purchase another one and download Windows 8.1.  I think I have time to return this laptop with function keys which only show tiny icons, no identification as to where F-8 exists.  Then MS tells us about reboot in this new Windows...  After having to log in the tapping does not even work!!!  I never had these problems before.  I hope I can have someone fix my old hard drive and get back to my old Toshiba and old Windows!!!!:(

Again, thanks so much for trying to help me out.  But I think Windows Explorer in Windows 7 and 8 work differently.  I have nothing at the bottom of the screen like what you show above. There is no thumbnail view at the bottom.  So I can see why there would be problems in Windows 7. 

I was confusing what you referred to as a Details Pane with Details View. There is an option to show a Details Pane on the right side of the screen, but I've never had that on.  The only thing at the bottom of my window are two icons you can click to switch between Details View and Large Thumbnail View.  Again, I am on details view and this still happens.

Like I said, Windows 8 is probably different... one of the things that makes my workaround work on 7 is that it only goes into the files to get the thumbnails if one of the three thumbnail options is actually active.  It's possible that either Windows 8 gets them regardless or that something else entirely is setting it off.

Some kind of search indexing, an overzealous, scan-ahead antivirus...it's really hard to say.  I don't know enough about windows 8 to do more than guess, unfortunately.

Turning off the whole thumbnail system entirely might work, if that's what's causing it...but I don't really know.  Sorry :X

I sympathize Steve. The bottom line is that this problem should have been addressed and fixed by Microsoft long ago. I think TironRaptor is correct, this issue is caused by a lock/bug in the thumbs.db files (even if thumbnails are not displayed). Avoiding the issue using the steps above works, but is a pain as you only have to forget a step and the problem is back again.

I think the reason using a 3rd party file manager works is due to those applications displaying 2 (or more) file panes. Clicking on files across the panes appears to release whatever locks Microsoft has invoked in the thumbs.db files (this is an assumption but seems to make sense when looking at the behaviour). 

Wish I could give you more positive advice, but I think we are all stuck with this problem until Microsoft fixes it (if ever).

Well the lock itself isn't a bug, really.  It's designed to keep you from deleting/moving files that are currently in use, which could potentially crash whatever's using them at the moment.  Or whatever's using it at the moment could put it right back where you just moved/deleted it from.  Or a number of other annoying-to-bad sorts of things could happen.

The bug/design problem is that something in windows explorer causes it to mark files as in use...but then doesn't release them when it's finished.  It just leaves them flagged as loaded until you close the window/hit back and re-enter the folder/do some other thing that forces it to unload the item in question.

In the case of 7's thumbnail induced problems, if it were behaving properly, you might not be able to delete it the first time if you were really quick about it.  But if you waited just a few seconds it'd work fine, without any further user intervention.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.

I don't know for sure what's causing it on 8, I'd need to sit down with an 8 system and play around with it for a bit, and that's just not an option for me.

What I *can* say for certain is that it is, in some way, loading the files.  To scan them for thumbnails, get details of their contents, or somesuch.  The key thing is to look for features that have to open files within the folders in order to work, and try disabling those till it stops being a problem.