XP unable to access any executables

I'm running XP pro and am getting the following error message whenever I try to access any program or shortcut: Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.

This message occurs on any .exe program or shortcut I click. In addition, none of the regular startup programs or processes are showing up in Windows task manager.

Now, I have discovered that if I start up in Safe mode, everything works fine! And in normal mode, I can right click a program and select 'Open As' using identical login credentials and it'll work!

After many hours of googling, it appears to be a permissions issue connected with explorer.exe. However, I've been unable to find a solution. I diligently run all anti-spyware and spybot programs daily and have a clean system. This all started last night after experiencing a flaky network file transfers from another xp machine with a very large (~ 7GB) file.

Any suggestions or possible solutions would be welcomed.

Thanks... Brian

 

What is the name of the file(7 GB)?
Boot to safe mode and log as admin.This trick should work.Then restart.
Check the properties on the file and see if yours have (on the general tab) "Security: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer" if so, and you trust the executable, unblock it and try to run it again.

 

Thanks for the reply Goran. That wasn't it but I solved it!

One item I failed to consider last night was an update to my Comodo firewall. Apparently, it had everything locked up. So, after uninstalling the firewall in safe mode (only way to access the uninstall menu), everything came back! I reinstalled Comodo and all is well.

Regards... Brian