.exe files locking

the problem i'm having is that .exe files are getting locked for around 5 minutes when other programs try to access them
this means i can no longer access them for read write copy or delete. once they unlock they are deleted automatically.
does anybody know what the problem is ?
i am running windows 7 32 bit and have customized it a lot, by disabled unwanted services, i think it may be one of the disabled services that is causing the problem, but i don't know which one it could be.
any help would be appreciated.

thanks for the link, it is quite useful, although it still doesn't solve the problem

i have tracked the issue down to explorer.exe specifically.
if explorer.exe is not running (eg no file browsers and no taskbar) then the problem doesn't happen

any ideas about what i can do ?

perhaps i should explain a bit better.

i am having a problem where some executable files (eg file.exe) become inaccessible, for example if i want try to delete them in a .bat script file, it becomes locked for about 5 minutes and then eventually deletes.

if i terminate all processes named explorer.exe (so that there are no windows or desktop items or the taskbar visible) then the problem doesn't exist.

so i know explorer.exe is doing something to lock exe files when i try to delete them using another program (such as a bat script), but i don't know what it is

does anybody who has had a similar experience have a solution ?

thanks

this problem still isn't solved, so if anybody who has experienced this problem and knows a solution can help, please do

Did you ever get this fixed WITHOUT reinstalling windows ? as I seem to be having the same problem and it's interfering with updating programs, as the installer seems to think the program is already running (it's not).