How to see what files are currently open on a network

Sometimes a user may leave a files open on their PC and go away from their desk, leaving the document locked and uneditable for other users.

The solution is to disconnect that user from the file and allow the new user to open it and perform the tasks that are necessary.

To locate these folders and perform this action do the following :

- Access the server that holds your network shares
- Start>Programs>Administrative tools>Computer Managment
- Expand 'Shared Folders' and select 'Open Files'
- Highlight the file in question>Right click and select 'Close Open File' from the menu

Please note that this will not close the file on the users PC it just closes the connection to the network.

What to do when a USB drive won't show up in My Computer

Sometimes when you plug a USB storage device such as a pen drive or hard disk into your PC you may notice that it doesn't show up in 'My Computer' as you would expect. This is normally caused by one of two things. The first is that the PC is trying to assign an existing drive letter to the new device and as a result the new drive cannot be displayed or there are no more available drive letters.

To check what the problem may be you will need to look at 'Disk Management' section of the 'Computer management' snap in. You can do this in the following way :

Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>highlight 'Disk Management'.

Your new device should show up here with a drive letter that is already in use. To resolve the issue

'Right click the device and select 'Change drive letter and paths' from the menu.
Select 'Change' and then choose a drive letter that is not currently in use.

Now when you go to 'My Computer' it will be there for you to access !.

If you have no available drive letters you will need to 'Right click' an existing drive in 'My Computer' and select 'Disconnect'. This will free up the drive letter.