Can't delete a file

Hi,

A few days ago I used a add-on in firefox to download a podcast video from justin.tv. I downloaded the video than converted it to .aiff in quicktime pro. Now I have this 700mb+ video file that will not delete. It keeps saying that it is in use by another program. I've done it without any programs open and it still says the same message. Is there any way of manually deleting the file or some program that can do it? or just a simple fix that i am missing?

Thanks!

Have you tried rebooting and then emptying the trash?

Multiple times. I even just got a new hard drive, and the same thing happens.

If you open activity monitor, you may be able to find the running process and quit it, and then delete the file, otherwise, here are some steps to look at.
Mini-tutorial: Force-deleting stubborn or problematic files in Mac OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

you can do lsof |grep "<filename>" in terminal. It'll show you what application is using it, which would let you know which file to kill

Quick Look might be the problem

I've come across the same problem and I got around it by doing the following:

Create a new folder in the directory of the movie file. Move the file into the new folder. If there's nothing in the folder you moved it from that you want to keep, then delete that folder. If there is, then create another folder where the file is and move it into the new one, then delete the first new folder you created.

A little cumbersome but it worked for me!

Here's what worked for me

I had the same problem. It was an alias file showing up in the "All My Files" list, and I couldn't delete it, move it, rename it, lock/unlock it, etc. It was just... there. I tried to boot in safe mode (Shut down. Once you're all shut down, hit the on button, and as soon as you hear the signature bong tone, hit shift until the usual gray apple screen appears).

The computer asked me whether to log in as myself or a guest. I chose myself, and no files showed up in All My Files. I shut down again, and rebooted normally. This time, my Mac decided to rebuild my file index. And the file disappeared.

Not sure this is the easiest way to rebuild your file index, or even if it's apt to work all of the time. But that's what finally worked for me.