HELP! "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect.."

[totalnewbie]

hey anyone.

i'm a total computer idiot so i dont really know what to do whenever there's a problem.

recently, i've encountered a really annoying problem. everytime i want to open folders on my desktop there's this message: "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." i tried to go to my documents and C drive thingies but nothing opens.

since i am administrator i dont know what happened.

please reply if u can help me out, and break it down simply since i wont be able to understand that much computer language thingy.

thanks, please help!

[qfisheye]

I hope this will help...Power off (perss power button for about 5 seconds....Read this before doing.. 1. Press power button and immediately press delete about 2 times per second until you get a black screen with white writing on it. Now you can relax.. Your next step will be to arrow up to " safe mode" hit enter. I think the best thing for you to do is the following----when it comes up the screen will have poor graphics quality(this is normal) arrow up to Administrator.... Since you don't know what you did I want you to go into control pane an go to "user accounts"... Now remove yourself from the computer.. Don't worry-- you are signed to administrator..... Now go back to user accounts and install yourself as a user again. Your favorites will be gone, but that is minor compared to the problem you can't pin down. I think you will be satisfied with the results.Good luck Lenny

[plthayer]

Actually you need to press F8 to get to the boot menu. Delete was used for older windows 98 systems. The other steps are correct, but it may not correct the problem and you will lose more than just your favorites. Anything on the desktop or in my documents will be lost as well.

Lets start off by determining what version of XP you actually have, is it home or pro?, How long have you had the problem? What happend right before the problem started, did you update or install new software?