This is an error many of us have gotten from time to time. We want to use a particular program or piece of software and when we try to open it, Windows tells us that it is in use by another application. That makes no sense. After all, we are just about to use it and have not been using previously. So how could that be the case? It is as puzzling to figure out as it is to solve. Generally, though, there are some things that are taking place behind the scenes that is causing this error.

I have found that at times when the amount of memory in use has been depleted to a certain value, this type of error tends to appear. Also, it seems that at times there are other background programs that use a file or two that the program we want to use needs to operate. There are also times when we may have previoulsy used the program and ‘thought’ that we shut it down properly, but when we look in the Task Manager we see it still running. In this instance, closing the program from the Task Manager should solve the problem. But, the majority of the times that the problem is resolved is by restarting the computer.

As this error continues to occur, always check to see if the application is already running and close it or simply restart your computer. The problem should be fixed once the OS finishes loading.