Recently, I noticed that the ‘Properties’ window of any folder or disk does not appear when I right-click on the object and click ‘Properties’. The properties for files work as usual, but if I do the same for a folder or disk icon nothing happens. I’m running Windows 2000 Professional (Service Pack 2).

Some people report this problem is due to a conflict between ZoneAlarm (or other firewall utilities) and Internet Information Services (IIS). Once you install the firewall, the IIS web publishing service will have problems starting because the firewall is denying the service access to the internet. You are probably wondering why this affects the ‘Properties’ page of your folders and drives. This is because the web sharing feature adds a tab to the properties dialogue box of folders and drives (but not files). So, we will need to disable the web publishing service from automatically loading on startup. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Settings’ > ‘Control Panel’. Open the ‘Administrative Tools’ control panel and open ‘Services’. In the list of services, select ‘World Wide Web Publishing Service’. You should be able to see the ‘Status’ of the service. This should show ‘Starting’. This is because it is trying to start, but the firewall will not let it have access to the network. So, the service will sit there trying to start. Double-click on the service and set the ‘Startup Type’ to ‘Manual’. Click OK to save the changes. Close the Services window and the Control Panel. Restart your computer. Once you have restarted, the web publishing service will not start on startup (in fact, if you look at the service there will be nothing listed in the ‘Status’, or it may possibly say ‘Stopped’). If you need to use the service in the future, manually start the service and ZoneAlarm, or whatever firewall you use, will prompt you as to whether you wish to grant the service access to the network. If you then click OK, the service will start and you will also be able to access the properties of folders and drives. Of course, if you have no need for web publishing functionality you can always uninstall Internet Information Services (IIS) which will also fix the problem.

In the event that you are not running a firewall, try the above procedure anyway as there have been (unconfirmed) reports of some issues with Windows 2000 SP2 and IIS. It may also be advisable to update Windows to the latest service pack, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. Available from www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/default.asp.