Security problem when executable is received by e-mail or CD

[Laurel]

I had installed agent ransack (installation kit - agentran.exe) on my
husband's XP 2002 SP 3 computer some time ago. I had given him my
installation kit- I forget whether by e-mail or CD. He had a problem that
required that everything be re-installed. We hired someone to do that.
When I tried to give him agentran.exe again, I get the following error, when
I double click on it, whether I e-mail the program or give it to him on a
CD. When transmitting the file I always renamed it to agentran.exe_file.

"Windows cannot access the specified device."

I thought I was submitting this post to find out how to run agentran.exe,
but when I went to my husband's computer to get the error message correct,
it ran ok! What could have changed? He is a very passive user - just
WordPerfect and Excel. We don't use a hub - just direct connect to the
cable provider. He has only one cd drive. I can't imagine what changed. If
it should happen again, what would I do? I looked in properties of the file
and didn't see anything helpful.

TIA
LAS

 

[Elmo]

I had installed agent ransack (installation kit - agentran.exe) on my
husband's XP 2002 SP 3 computer some time ago. I had given him my
installation kit- I forget whether by e-mail or CD. He had a problem that
required that everything be re-installed. We hired someone to do that.
When I tried to give him agentran.exe again, I get the following error, when
I double click on it, whether I e-mail the program or give it to him on a
CD. When transmitting the file I always renamed it to agentran.exe_file.

"Windows cannot access the specified device."

I thought I was submitting this post to find out how to run agentran.exe,
but when I went to my husband's computer to get the error message correct,
it ran ok! What could have changed? He is a very passive user - just
WordPerfect and Excel. We don't use a hub - just direct connect to the
cable provider. He has only one cd drive. I can't imagine what changed. If
it should happen again, what would I do? I looked in properties of the file
and didn't see anything helpful.

Did you or your husband rename the file from "agentran.exe_file" to
"agentran.exe"? I doubt the extended extension could be run, so if the
name was changed, that might explain why it's working now.

 

[Laurel]

Oh, yes, of course. I use the exe_file trick all the time to send exes.
No, it won't run unless it was renamed. That was not the problem. (But you
won't get that error if you try to run it either.)

 

[Laurel]

Nope, didn't forget to rename it. This is how I always send *.exe files. I
know they won't run until renamed. But if you try, you don't get that
error.

 

[Elmo]

Nope, didn't forget to rename it. This is how I always send *.exe files. I
know they won't run until renamed. But if you try, you don't get that
error.

A few causes/cures I found with a Google Groups search:

- Firewall
- IE settings that block access to files/folders

- Use "Run As" "Administrator"

To continue the search:

http://groups.google.com/groups/sea...cess+the+specified+device"&qt_s=Search+Groups

 

[Laurel]

Thanks. As it turned out, when I went to try it again a few days later
(didn't re-send - just used the ransack.exe that I'd already put on his
computer) it worked! Go figure! As I said, he's such a simple user he
couldn't do anything "interesting" in the meantime to change the
environment. Who knows.