windows cannot access the path file or folder

Scrumshie

Help me please.
My dear son has produced his laptop tonight with this problem. He swears he hasnt fiddled deep into its guts, or downloaded anything today, but suddenly the above error message comes up eveytime I try to open a file.
It says I might not have "permission".
Is this a virus?
Has he ruined it?
What can I do to help?
DS in tears.....me at my wits end.....not very PC withit.
Help please

fwor

A lot will depend on what Operating System you're using, but if it's Windows XP, can you check whether the login that he uses has full Admin rights, or is a "limited" account. If he accidentally changed that then you might get that type of error message.

Scrumshie

Thanks for taking time to try and help.
It uses windows xp. He is not the admin account but he swears he has not been into the admin account to change anything. I believe him becoz he is so upset. He has Zone alarm and antivirus and the only thing he has downloaded recently is Opera?

spud17

Haven't had time to read it but help could be HERE

fwor

Do the errors still appear if you log in as Admin?

If so, I'd recommend looking at the "stickies" at the top of the Techie section, and use one of the recommended utilities to scan the PC for malware.

If not, DS might have been mistaken? I'm not sure that he could successfully have installed Opera without Admin privileges, but I might be wrong there...

Scrumshie

Unfortunately the problems are still there in the admin account.
I have read the advice from Spud17 but I cannot access the zonealarm info as the error message occurs on this too.
Going to try one of the malware sites, just trying to reread the info and pluck up courage, it sounds daunting.

5 mins later
Cannnot access the internet as the same message occurs, I cannot even access the admin tools in control panel. What has he done !!!!
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permisions to access the item."
Arghh!!

fwor

In my experience, the best guide to what might have happened is to ask the perpetrator (sorry, innocent party) what the last thing was that they did before it went wrong.

So may be best to leave it until tomorrow and then ask your son exactly what steps he went through and that will hopefully give you a better idea of how to search for the solution (or give us the info and have one of us try!)

raptorman

Have you tried starting the laptop in 'safe mode'(tap f8 key during startup) and see if you can open a file. Alternatively while in safe mode you could try a 'system restore' and reset the computer back to an earlier date when it was working.

It's also worth running a full spyware/adware scan aswell as full antivirus scan in safe mode if you can.

HTH

sho_me_da_money

Is your laptop networked and using shared files/folders?

If not then this is a permissions isssue.

Right Click on a folder you cannot access and select properties
Click on the Security Tab and check which users can access this folder and make sure full control is selected for your user account

You can go into Advanced options aswell but it seems like you need a Tech to check your system.

It is a simple fix but i need to be on the machine to do it.

weegie.geek

@ Scrumshie - Don't worry too much. If all else fails, a reinstall of windows will fix it. It's a software problem. Nothing's broken.

Scrumshie

Thank you to everyone who has tried to help. We did a system restore in safe mode this morning and he was able to rescue the homework he spent 4 hours on yesterday. It is running very slow, but it seems that we can now access most files.
By your answers the next step seems to be running a spyware program in safe mode?
Weegie geek - thanks for your words. Its not doomed. Its just being awkward !! Just like DS.