Ok, Against my better judgment I took the leap of faith and upgraded to Vista like an idiot. Maybe I'm just too used to XP is why I'm having a hard time or maybe Vista has implemented some ridiculously intrusive security measures. Any ways, my problem is certain downloaded files, specifically .exes, do not open. Windows tells me, "Windows could not access the specified device, path, or file.Blah Blah Blah." I have full control on the only account open. I have run it as administrator . I've disabled UAC. I've searched the internet high and low. I am at my wits end and I am about to lose my marbles. P.S. - I am beginning to think all the high praises for Vista around the net are stategically placed Microsoft operatives in a clever scheme to drive the world insane. Thanks.

Our staggering federal deficit; the high price of gas & now your broken .exe association..... Yup .... Vista is indeed to blame!

And naturally you are a 100% certain that those ???.EXE's are designed to run on Vista! and Microsoft is out to get you.

Yeah, Well I wouldn't have been so quick to blame it on Vista if they didn't work 5 seconds before, (Not exaggerating). I opened it and accidentally closed it and tried to reopen it and that's what I got. Anyways, figured it out so no need to worry about inputting any advice guys. Thanks.

so what ws the fix?

I got this little registry entry that adds a take ownership option to your right-click menu so you do not have to fumble through window after window of permissions and ownership. I don't know why the standard method for taking ownership didn't work and this did, but I am just so happy that I don't really care. here's the key ================================================== Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas] @="Take Ownership" "NoWorkingDirectory"="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command] @="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F" "IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas] @="Take Ownership" "NoWorkingDirectory"="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command] @="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t" "IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t" =================================================== To use it just copy everything inside the ============ and paste it to a new notepad document and save it as 'all files' and name it what you want with .reg at the end. Voila, you can now right click on a file and take ownership. Good luck.