[jw1496]

I'm being driven mad by something which has started happening recently.

Often when I try to open a file by double clicking on it in explorer I get the error message 'Windows cannot find pathname/filename. Make sure you typed the name properly and then try again.' Half a second later the file opens so obviously windows could find it after all.

My computer is an Acer Aspire 5580 with a dual core 1.6Ghz processor and 1Gb of ram (plus a 2Gb SD card as a boost). Running vista ultimate with all the latest updates. Antivirus is Sophos.

Any ideas why this s happening and how I can prevent it?

The workaround is obvious - click on the error message OK button and it goes away!

Thanks.

[Rollin' Rog]

Are these shortcuts or the exes themselves?

What do they have in common with respect to paths? For most shortcuts you can right click on it, select "properties" and see the path and select "open file location-". What happens with that?

Also, for recent problems -- those not involved with My Documents files -- you can always try a "system restore" and not lose much if anything.

[Rich-M]

Excellent antivirus program except this issue of it is malware is more likely spyware so what are you using for that?

[jw1496]

I'm trying to open files in my My Documents area by double clicking directly on them. All are MSoffice files mixture of .doc, .xls, .ppt (some may have been in latest docx etc formats because I'm using office 2007 but I tend to save in the old format whenever possible for compatibility with my workplace).

I'm using sophos because as an honorary member of a UK university I'm covered by their corporate license and I've always used it and nearly always been happy with it.