encryption won't work

The problem has mysteriously gone away -- I ran msconfig, clicked
Help, and followed the troubleshooting advice given using
"Diagnostic startup" and "Selective startup." The problem was
gone with Diagonostic startup, and never returned as I progressively
worked back to the Normal startup!

I'm happy the problem is gone, but it would have been more satisfying
to have discovered what was wrong. (The experience gave me a
flashback to a childhood "snipe hunt" -- confidently homing in on the
quarry, only to discover there is no such animal ;o)

--r.e.s.

"r.e.s." wrote in message
...
After a fresh restart, with all components of McAfee SecurityCenter
disabled, if I create a new folder and right-click its icon, then

Properties
Advanced
Encrypt... OK
Apply
Apply changes to this folder, subfolders... OK

I get this message:

An error occurred applying attributes to the file ...
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
another process.

Although TaskManager shows no applications running, there are many
processes -- but I have no idea which might be the culprit.
Very frustrating -- any advice much appreciated!

--r.e.s.