Want to end a few processes

Hey,
been programming for years but never done a windows program. I have had a few problems with pairs of processes that keep opening each other when I close one of them. Basically, they are very difficult to delete (as windows throws some error message saying the file is in use).

I want to see if I can write a quick program that can end both processes far quicker than I can do manually. Something like, I find out the name of the processes ("irritatingopener.exe" and "openopener.exe"), type them in, and have them both ended instantly. I'm aware that there are probably better ways of deleting these files, but I would like to do this as an exercise (it would be a thrill if it worked though).

How would I get started? Would this sort of thing be easy to do?

How To Terminate an Application "Cleanly" in Win32

I think that article has most of the functions I need, however I still can't work out how to get a handle on an external process. Most of the microsoft API seems to assume you already have this handle.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de..._processes.asp

You could find what you are looking for in this article: How To Enumerate Applications Using Win32 APIs

Edit: or alternately just use the above solution.

Terminating a process by name

I like the look of that 'terminating a process by name' thing, but I don't think it works in this instance since Winspy can only look at visible windows (whereas I'm looking to shut down hidden background processes). I don't know how I'd get the 'class name' of something without winspy.

I've had a look at Madcow's link to msdn. It looks a lot like what I want, but I can't run the example code they have. It (DevC++) complains about 'void main'. When I change it to int main, the code simple does nothing.
Edit: my mistake, got it working. Will start fiddling with it now :D

Why do at least half the processes listed have 'access is denied'? Is there any way I can force them to shut down, or at least access them? Most of them are listed as 'System' by the task manager, and many of the more annoying background apps also declare themselves as system. I hope this doesn't prevent the whole program from working :(

you can delete the programs altogether after booting into safemode (or command prompt, if available).