I am running Windows XP Pro. I have precaching and indexing turned off. I have some large files on my computer (700MB movie rips). Problem is, when I try to rename or move them, I get an error stating that Windows us using the file. Not only that, but sometimes simply highlighting the file with my pointer will totally hang my computer (well, Explorer). If I go into Windows Media Player and open them from the player, it doesn't hang at all. Explorer just tends to die when I try to navigate them. What sort of Windows process is loading these huge files into my RAM and killing my machine before I even try to open them? And how do I turn it off?

i know exactly what this is mate but im sorry i cant remember how to fix it. The problem is that the video file you are trying to open is corrupt. The index system within the file is corrupt and windows exlorer trys to search through the whole file peice by peice to repair or find the index. This is why you system hangs at 100% cpu usage. And constantly says the file is in use. Even if you click on the file to try and delete it it will start searching again. The solution involves changing a setting within system registry that prevents explorer trying to "fix" the corrupt file index but i cant for my life remember what it is. hopefully some once else will be able to help you here. Sorry