[SoyYo]

You are right about the encrypted files, however I think that there is 3rd party software available that can bypass this. I have an Acer product and it comes with encryption software which will unencrypt anything regardless of whether it was encrypted by that software or by windows or any other software so something like this may be able to help regain access to those files.


What UAC is for, as described by microsoft(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...ntcontrol.mspx)
"User Account Control in Windows Vista improves the safety and security of your computer by preventing potentially dangerous software from making changes to your computer without your explicit consent."

About the system restore, I really wonder about that because it is turned on by default and unless the poster turned it off then I would deffinently be concerned about a really bad virus.

[Q*bert]

Thanks to all the concerned posts and help, and sorry for the late reply...after I got this resolved I went on a long vacation (seriously).

So last month I did end up getting a 2.5 SATA HD enclosure, removed the drive, and plugged it into another laptop as a USB drive. At first I didn't have access to the drive this way either (the "f*ck!!"I yelled reverbed through my condo bldg.), however unlike before I was able to access the 'Advanced' section of the HD's security tab and re-enable full-access to the drive.

After that, 2 days of major back-up activity ensued (both to a brand-new NAS drive and many DVDs). Finally, I re-installed the drive back into the original laptop to see if access would still be denied.

Surprisingly, it wasn't! Apparently ulocking the drive in slave mode unlocked it for good. So, all has been back to normal with the laptop and the HD - full file access and full admin rights/UAC/system rights.

Also - System Restore does now show a restore point. It's almost as one didn't show up as available before b/c I didn't have full Admin rights, but that would be weird... Anti-virus hasn't found anything otherwise.

So all seems good...I'm very lucky It's funny, up until this debacle I was actually defending Vista to those that bashed it in casual conversation. It's good to know that even with technology and Vista though, busting out a screwdriver (i.e., real tools) can fix the problem.

Thanks again.......

[Rollin' Rog]

Good to hear from you. You might want to mark the thread "Solved" using the "Thread Tools" menu here since after much travail a solution of sorts was found.

I'll also keep it as a personal bookmark in case I run into it again

You're welcome for any help on my part.