Please help! Recently some of my file folders have become 'read-only' and I cannot adjust its properties via right-clicking then deselecting read-only toggle button. I suspect some form of spyware has modified my folder settings, since I did not adjust them manually myself. How do I modify this read-only setting on my file folder(s)? How do I delete spyware from my pc? Any help which you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Hi Nick, To remove spyware, you need to download a couple of files - Ad-aware from Lavasoft.com and Spybot search and destroy from zdnet.com in the downloads, utilities section. After you run these remove everything that they find. Spybot also has an immunize button which will help keep some of the spyware from returning. Good luck,

To manually remove read-only status, go to the start menu and select "run" (or press Windows+R) and type in "cmd" or "command". At the command prompt, change to the folder that your file(s) are in and use the "attrib" command. The command to turn off read-only is: attrib -r filename For a full list of the switches, type "attrib /?" Spyware can be removed with a piece of software called AdAware, you can get this from www.download.com Hope that solves your problem.

All folders in my XP are read-only that's normal by default. Why do you need to change that?

If the Read Only attribute is set then the file cannot be amended. Not much good if it's a picture you want to edit etc.

The folders are read only because a folder has to have code to make it a folder. It is actually a file of sorts. Now, you can edit a file, say a picture file, but now that file is different. If you edit a folder it is no longer a folder. Therefore it has to be read only, that doesn't mean the files in it have to be read only. Like if you have a real folder in the office or school, you can take papers out of it edit them, cut them in half or whatever and then put them back. But if you cut up the folder you have nothing to put the files back into. You have to leave the folder intact for it to be useful. At least that is the way I understand it.