Unreliable programming with new Arduinos

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
6 
C:\Users\Robert\AppData\Local\Temp\build4428593973120486394.tmp\MyBlink.cpp.hex 
Binary sketch size: 1,624 bytes (of a 258,048 byte maximum)
processing.app.SerialException: Serial port 'COM4' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
	at processing.app.Serial.<init>(Serial.java:171)
	at processing.app.Serial.<init>(Serial.java:77)
	at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:77)
	at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:172)
	at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:67)
	at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1706)
	at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1662)
	at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1634)
	at processing.app.Editor$DefaultExportHandler.run(Editor.java:2346)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port 'COM4' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
	at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:101)
	at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:172)
	at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:67)
	at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1706)
	at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1662)
	at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1634)
	at processing.app.Editor$DefaultExportHandler.run(Editor.java:2346)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

This is the error message I am getting today. according to windows task manager, there is one instance of avrdude.exe running.