Reda-only issue

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Guest

I was trying to move some files and re-name some folders, when I discovered
that all my folders have suddenly become read-only. I've just moved in at
KU, and their networking policies require a download of an anti-virus program
called "Sophos." Is this the culprit, or is it something else?
 
Hi

That's the way XP works. The read-only attribute on the folders doesn't
affect the files in those folders.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
 
Swordopolis211 said:
I was trying to move some files and re-name some folders, when I
discovered that all my folders have suddenly become read-only. I've
just moved in at KU, and their networking policies require a download
of an anti-virus program called "Sophos." Is this the culprit, or is
it something else?
Click to expand...


No, there is no culpit. The folders aren't read-only and it didn't happen
suddenly. It's always been this way; you just never noticed before. Ignore
the read-only attribute on folders. They aren't read-only, the attribute
doesn't apply to folders, and the attribute means nothing
 
Swordopolis211 said:
I was trying to move some files and re-name some folders, when I discovered
that all my folders have suddenly become read-only. I've just moved in at
KU, and their networking policies require a download of an anti-virus program
called "Sophos." Is this the culprit, or is it something else?
Click to expand...

It's unlikely that the anti-virus did anything to your files or folders (other than deleting infected files).

What do you mean by "folders have suddenly become read-only"? Do you meant that when you display the file-properties dialog of a
folder, the Read-Only box is grayed? If so, then don't worry about it, for some reason Windows (almost) always does that. It
doesn't matter whether or not the folder or any of it's contents are read-only, it still grays the box most of the time. Just
ignore it, the status of the read-only box of of a folder means little if anything as a status indicator, however you can still use
it to manipulate the attribute of files (not folders) within it.


For the record, folders CAN be read-only, as well as hidden and system. However only the hidden attribute can be set for a folder
from the properties dialog, read-only and system must be set from the command prompt. One use for setting folders as read-only is
to display a custom icon. If you place a desktop.ini file in a folder containing this:

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconFile=C:\FooBar\Baz.ico
;IconIndex is optional
IconIndex=0

then the folder will use the specified icon (in this case "C:\FooBar\Baz.ico") instead of the default folder icon. However, it
won't work unless the folder is read-only, which you have to set by going to a command prompt (cmd.exe) and using attrib.exe (eg:
"attrib +r C:\Windows").


HTH
 
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