[hannay]

Hi:

I do a lot of photo-cleanup etc for brochure-work etc in property-sales. I use PhotoDeluxe 3 because it can do all of what I want, and some things a lot better than "superior" progs. I have used PhotoDeluxe 2 and 3 right from Win 3.1 days through 98 and XP.

It has been fine on Vista Home Premium where I have edited/cleaned/manipulated hundreds of photos since the day I installed it on this new machine months ago now, but suddenly today the prog won't launch when I click its icon, and I get a message saying that it can't initialize because *the* file is locked, and to use the file manager to turn off the read-only option.

I have gone right through the programme folder and none of the files are locked. Folders aren't locked either, the check-boxes are just "blued" which means they are of an indeterminate state but are not locked ... I can clear or check that box readily anyway, though the folder will always be "indeterminate" straight away on re-inspecting.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled, have used system restore to go back to a number of different dates in the past when it was fine, including one WAY far ago, have tried installing PhotoDeluxe 2 the earlier version just to check that too but still the same message appears with both, wanting me to turn off the read only option on the file ...

I don't believe I have done anything significant to cause this that I can recall, have not changed settings, have now tried taking ownership, done the reasonable things but without any change. The only thing that could perhaps relate to anything is that a defrag was carried out overnight and right afterward was the first time the problem occurred. However, that then wouldn't affect operation when uninstalled and reinstalled ...

So ......

I am aware that there are some issues with Vista and unlocking of read-only files at times, but haven't found anything about a programme file suddenly being locked and stopping the application from initializing.

I am now seriously in need of using the prog, and need to look for help from someone more expert ...

One thought is that the request to use the file manager to turn off the read-only option on the file may be referring to another file entirely, not one in the PhotoDeluxe programme folder ... and I wouldn't know where to go with that thought!!!

Can anyone suggest a next-step to get things working together again please - I doin't want to just leave it and have to use a different prog, and shouldn't need to anyway as PD3 has been fine right up to yesterday!

Any thoughts/guidance would be massively welcomed ...

Hannay