All folders in all drives are set to read only on Windows XP and can't be changed

I am using windows XP and all of my folders on all drives are now read only. When I remove the read only check, it gets set back to read only. Why?

I cannot write any file from my flex application. File write protection error is shown to me by flex compiler, however it was OK until two days ago.

Now when I remove the read only check from any folder, it is set back to read only by itself, by windows or possibly a virus. I tried changes in registry as mentioned on a Microsoft site but that did not help.

Wow, this seems to be a big problem many users have reported! See if this KB article helps: You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

Try downloading ProcessMonitor from sysinternals and add a filter with the SetBasicInformationFile. From there you should at least be able to see who is modifying the files.

To set a filter (I think it pops up to start with) click on the funnel in the menu. Then choose:

Operation is SetBasicInformationFile Include

Then click the Add

If you cannot download it to the infected computer, place it on a flash memory or equal and run it from there.