by David Hakala

It’s your PC, right? So how dare it tell you when you click on a folder:

Folder is not accessible. Access is denied.

The feelings that message inspires are like the ones you get when you try your own home’s bathroom door and find it locked: surprise followed swiftly by resentment, irritation, and a certain sense of urgency.

Access to a folder may be denied because the folder was created on a NTFS file system using a previous installation of Windows, and you then installed Windows XP without reformatting the drive. The security ID of the user changes under this scenario, even though you may register the same username and password. The user’s security ID no longer matches that of the folder, and so access is denied.
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