A Microsoft Excel file I had suddenly became unopenable. It said read only, but its not. How do I fix it?

Question

We hadn't opened the file in about a month. Nothing had happened to the computer or the file. I restored the comp to a previous date, but still no luck. Please help us. this is our wedding guest list! lol Please help.

Answer 1

Right click on the file in question and go down to properties. In there, on the front page, it should have a box saying "Read only" and hidden. Ensure that neither of these boxes are checked and you should be good. As for unopenable, that could be unrelated. The file could be corrupted or you could have a virus or spyware. Run a full virus scan with an up-to-date virus protection (I'd reccomend Mcafee) if you don't have up-to-date (Say, Norton 2004, 2005, 2006.. Or Norton in general, I hate it) you can get good free protection from AVG antivirus. http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html is a good place to get it. Also ensure you have good, up to date, anti spyware. I'd recommend Webroot Spy Sweeper (Which I have sweeping now, actually) but if you don't have one (like an old edition of Spybot or something) you can get two good ones for free at Download.com; adaware and spybot search and destroy: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1 and http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1 respectively. Same goes for a firewall, though most likely unrelated to your problem. Make sure you have a good, modern one, with your settings set to "Stealth mode" if possible. I'd recommend Mcafee Firewall if you don't have one, but a good free one, again, is Zonealarm (which, I might add, is what CA security suite uses, just under a different guise) http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm/3000-10435_4-10550364.html?tag=lst-0-2 .
If you set your file to non read only and it still won't open, and all your scans come up empty, and it still won't open you might want to seriously consider the possibility that the file is corrupt. At that point, run a scandisk, by going Start>My Computer, right clicking on the drive it's stored to, Properties>Tools tab>Error-checking. Click both boxes and hit "Ok." Reboot your computer and don't touch any keys until it starts. It can take half an hour to a few hours, but it should help.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Do you have a anitspy ware program on your pc? if so sometimes spyware can attach it self to important files in windows. And if you use an antispyware program to remove your spyware then it may have deleted it.Try to go to microsoft home page and see if you can redownload it from there, if not you may need to use your recovery disc and just install your window files from you cd.

Answer 3

Is it stored in a thumb drive? It happens sometimes. Press panic button if it is. Is it stored in a hard drive? If yes, copy the file to another location. See if you can open the new copy. To play safe, save under a new name. If no, then your drive has gone flaky. Press panic button if it is.