diff --git a/activemq-http/pom.xml b/activemq-http/pom.xml
index 0a9cc4eec3..2bae67a3f1 100644
--- a/activemq-http/pom.xml
+++ b/activemq-http/pom.xml
@@ -177,6 +177,8 @@
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
             <forkCount>1</forkCount>
+            <!-- HTTP/WS/SSL tests are inherently slower: tests have legitimate Thread.sleep() calls up to 35s -->
+            <forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>600</forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionExceptionTest.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionExceptionTest.java
index 3806fe05fc..83054413e4 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionExceptionTest.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionExceptionTest.java
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ public class JournalCorruptionExceptionTest {
         randomAccessFile.seek(offset);
         randomAccessFile.write(bla, 0, bla.length);
         randomAccessFile.getFD().sync();
+        dataFile.closeRandomAccessFile(randomAccessFile);
     }
 
     private int getNumberOfJournalFiles() throws IOException {
diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest.java
index 0a4d4fcb5c..d69594ff35 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import jakarta.jms.Session;
 
 import org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerService;
+import org.apache.activemq.util.IOHelper;
 import org.apache.activemq.command.ActiveMQQueue;
 import org.apache.activemq.store.kahadb.disk.journal.DataFile;
 import org.apache.activemq.store.kahadb.disk.journal.Journal;
@@ -185,9 +186,9 @@ public class JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest {
     }
 
     private void whackIndex(File dataDir) {
-        File indexToDelete = new File(dataDir, "db.data");
+        final File indexToDelete = new File(dataDir, "db.data");
         LOG.info("Whacking index: " + indexToDelete);
-        indexToDelete.delete();
+        IOHelper.deleteFileNonBlocking(indexToDelete);
     }
 
     private void corruptBatchMiddle(int i) throws IOException {
@@ -228,6 +229,7 @@ public class JournalCorruptionIndexRecoveryTest {
         Arrays.fill(bla, fill);
         randomAccessFile.seek(offset);
         randomAccessFile.write(bla, 0, bla.length);
+        dataFile.closeRandomAccessFile(randomAccessFile);
     }
 
     private int getNumberOfJournalFiles() throws IOException {
diff --git a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalFdRecoveryTest.java b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalFdRecoveryTest.java
index 8a34b88944..6ec60213e1 100644
--- a/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalFdRecoveryTest.java
+++ b/activemq-kahadb-store/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/store/kahadb/JournalFdRecoveryTest.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.apache.activemq.store.kahadb;
 
 import org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerService;
+import org.apache.activemq.util.IOHelper;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.region.RegionBroker;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.region.policy.PolicyEntry;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.region.policy.PolicyMap;
@@ -306,9 +307,9 @@ public class JournalFdRecoveryTest {
     }
 
     private void whackFile(File dataDir, String name) throws Exception {
-        File indexToDelete = new File(dataDir, name);
+        final File indexToDelete = new File(dataDir, name);
         LOG.info("Whacking index: " + indexToDelete);
-        indexToDelete.delete();
+        IOHelper.deleteFileNonBlocking(indexToDelete);
     }
 
     private int getNumberOfJournalFiles() throws IOException {
diff --git a/activemq-spring/src/test/java/org/apache/bugs/LoadBalanceTest.java b/activemq-spring/src/test/java/org/apache/bugs/LoadBalanceTest.java
index 3d24867ddb..e36afa66b4 100644
--- a/activemq-spring/src/test/java/org/apache/bugs/LoadBalanceTest.java
+++ b/activemq-spring/src/test/java/org/apache/bugs/LoadBalanceTest.java
@@ -35,9 +35,12 @@ import jakarta.jms.TextMessage;
 import org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQConnectionFactory;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerRegistry;
 import org.apache.activemq.broker.BrokerService;
+import org.apache.activemq.broker.region.Destination;
+import org.apache.activemq.broker.region.RegionBroker;
 import org.apache.activemq.command.ActiveMQQueue;
 import org.apache.activemq.network.NetworkConnector;
 import org.apache.activemq.store.memory.MemoryPersistenceAdapter;
+import org.apache.activemq.util.Wait;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -336,26 +339,27 @@ public class LoadBalanceTest {
         broker.stop();
     }
 
-    // need to ensure broker bridge is alive before starting the consumer
-    // peeking at the internals will give us this info
+    // Wait until both brokers have their local consumer AND the remote demand subscription
+    // from the other broker's bridge (>= 2 consumers per queue). This guarantees:
+    // 1. Both local consumers (container1, container2) are truly subscribed
+    // 2. The network bridges are fully started and have propagated demand subscriptions
     private void waitForBridgeFormation() throws Exception {
-        long done = System.currentTimeMillis() + 30000;
-        while (done > System.currentTimeMillis()) {
-            if (hasBridge("one") && hasBridge("two")) {
-                return;
-            }
-            Thread.sleep(1000);
-        }
+        assertTrue("Both brokers should have local + bridge demand consumers for " + TESTING_QUEUE,
+                Wait.waitFor(() -> getQueueConsumerCount("one") >= 2 && getQueueConsumerCount("two") >= 2,
+                        30000, 100));
     }
 
-    private boolean hasBridge(String name) {
-        boolean result = false;
-        BrokerService broker = BrokerRegistry.getInstance().lookup(name);
-            if (broker != null && !broker.getNetworkConnectors().isEmpty()) {
-                 if (!broker.getNetworkConnectors().get(0).activeBridges().isEmpty()) {
-                    result = true;
-                 }
+    private int getQueueConsumerCount(String brokerName) {
+        try {
+            final BrokerService broker = BrokerRegistry.getInstance().lookup(brokerName);
+            if (broker == null) {
+                return 0;
             }
-        return result;
+            final RegionBroker regionBroker = (RegionBroker) broker.getRegionBroker();
+            final Destination dest = regionBroker.getDestinationMap().get(new ActiveMQQueue(TESTING_QUEUE));
+            return dest != null ? dest.getConsumers().size() : 0;
+        } catch (Exception ignored) {
+            return 0;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 690f8a31f6..58a3aaf78a 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@
 
     <surefire.argLine></surefire.argLine>
     <maven.surefire.allow.securitymanager></maven.surefire.allow.securitymanager>
+    <!-- Per-class JVM timeout (reuseForks=false means one JVM per test class).
+         Kills a forked JVM that has been running longer than this many seconds,
+         preventing CI from hanging indefinitely on Windows file-lock issues or
+         any other test that never terminates. Override per-module if needed. -->
+    <surefire.forkedProcessTimeout>300</surefire.forkedProcessTimeout>
 
     <siteId>activemq-${project.version}</siteId>
     <projectName>Apache ActiveMQ</projectName>
@@ -973,6 +978,7 @@
             <redirectTestOutputToFile>true</redirectTestOutputToFile>
             <forkCount>1</forkCount>
             <reuseForks>false</reuseForks>
+            <forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>${surefire.forkedProcessTimeout}</forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>
             <failIfNoTests>false</failIfNoTests>
             <systemPropertyVariables>
                 <java.awt.headless>true</java.awt.headless>