# Bizarre WindowsXP Problem

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 19, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269 "2003-10-19T00:08:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269/1 "2003-10-19T00:08:54Z")

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I have curious problem with my computer that I have yet to be able to solve- a couple days ago, I got on my computer, and noticed that some of picturess used in the thumbnail view of the icons were grayed out. I right clicked on the folder, then went to properties, and sure enough, the folder was set to read-only.

Now here is were the bizarre part is - I keep unclicking the read only box, then hitting apply, and then telling the dialog box to apply changes to all files and folders in folder. But they pictures still were gray-out, and when I went properties box, the read-only checkbox was checked. Any help on how to get my computer to unset these files from read-only.

BTW, my computer is up to date on patches, and I of course just ran Ad-Aware and AVG.

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**Author:** ![tcdaniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tcdaniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcdaniel)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269/2 "2003-10-19T02:00:04Z")

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My Best Guess:  
Folder attributes are always either read only or hidden -

If several were grayed out, it was because you selected all the “gray” folders to work with as a group at some point.

Only individual pics are editable and not constrainted by fold attributes.

Hope this answers your question.

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269/3 "2003-10-19T03:01:19Z")

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Some folders are always greyed out depending on your OS.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-windowsxp-problem/208269/4 "2003-10-19T14:51:15Z")

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Maybe its grey cause its a hidden folder & some program is using it so you can’t do anything with it.?