I am trying to clean up a laptop and I'm having trouble with one account. There are 2 accounts on the system "Jay Stac" and "Joe". They are both Administrator accounts and I can log into both. The Joe account is giving me problems. AVG Anti-Virus found a virus in C:\Documents and Settings\Joe\Local Settings\Temp. I am unable to access this folder to delete the files for the following reasons: If I try to access the C:\Documents and Settings\Joe folder when logged in as Jay Stac or Safe Mode Administrator, I get an "Access Denied" message. If I log in as Joe, I can't set the Folder Options/View to Show Hidden Files - well, I can set it, but as soon as I exit the dialog box, it resets to Don't Show. Therefore I can't get into the Local Settings folder to clean the Temp folder. Any ideas on how to fix this account so I can set the Show Hidden option or access it from another user account? Thanks!

Google for "unlocker" and then use unlocker to remove the access denied...you should then be able to open the folder and do what you want.... be careful in using unlocker! In The Matters Of Style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, Stand Like A Rock "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

Thanks, but it didn't help. When I ran unlocker on the Joe folder, it said it was locked by guard.exe. I clicked unlock and then tried to open the folder, but got the same Dialog box. The title says "Can't Open Documents and Settings" and the message is "Access is denied." When I ran unlocker again, it tells me that it is not locked and offers to help me move it, delete it or rename it. WhatI want to do is Open it from another user account with admin rights or set it to view hidden files from the Joe account. Unlocker doesn't seem to provide that capability.

You have XP Pro right? If so boot into safe mode and login to the actual Administrator account. See if that allows you to do what you want.

Thanks for the response, but if you go back and read my original post, you'll note that I mentioned that I already tried that. I spoke to the owner of the laptop and he told me that he was having so much trouble with the Joe account that he created a new account and doesn't need Joe anymore. I deleted the account via the Safe Mode Administrator and it cleared up a lot of other strange errors that I was seeing even when using the other accounts. I think most of the problems were being caused by the Joe profile being corrupt even when it wasn't being used. Now that it's deleted, the laptop runs much better. Thanks to all for your suggestions.