At wits end.

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I have a problem with windows XP that I cannot find the solution to. Please tell me if you can fix this.
Once upon a time I enabled a password on the administrative account on an xp64 machine.
It asked me if I wanted to protect the files. I (foolishly) agreed.
Now whenever I copy a file to a usb stick, it has this the properties:
"this file came from another computer and may be blocked to help protect this computer"
I can disable files and folders individually, yet I cannot stop the operating system from doing this to every single new file I copy to a usb stick or another hard drive.

How do I do this? I have checked in account settings, gpedit.msc, and everywhere in the registry I thought might hold the answer.

(I can disable files and folders from having this attribute individually on the source computer, but I can't stop the operating system from applying it to every new copied file)
I would be eternally grateful to the one who might solve this problem.

A question about your situation. Is your USB stick NTFS or FAT32 formatted?

If you can please PM me the answer. Email notifications are not working for me.

I have had success with XP32 and vista files before by using a linux live disk and use the linux OS to copy the files to the USB drive..

The files should keep working indefinitely afterwards, as I don't think linux copies the metadata that is contained with the files.

other than that, it would seem that something is b0rked, but that's usually the case with Windows...

You do not need to go to the extreme of using a linux live disk.

If its the problem what I think it is, then its the data in the alternate data stream of the file that is causing the problem. Data that Windows puts there because a setting is not set right.

So using a FAT32 or NTFS formatted disk makes all the difference to the solution. If the OP is using a FAT32 on the USB stick then its not a alternate data stream problem. Since FAT32 file system does not copy the alternate data stream.

Nothing b0rked about it. Just a setting that needs to be changed once we know a little something more about the setup of his computer

That's not related to password. It's a feature M$ added sometime in XP's life. IE will add an Alternate Data Stream to files downloaded from Internet and if that stream is present, you'll be warned when opening the file.

If you want to disable this feature, first add/change this registry key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0]
"Flags"=dword:00000047

Then go to
Internet Options → Security
select My Computer
click Custom level...
change Miscellaneous → Launching applications and unsafe files = Disable

Be aware that it'll disable the warning for all files. So if you click on a trojan, there'll be no second chance.

This doesn't involve IE, or files transferred over the internet.

He means windows explorer.

It was a dumb idea on MS part to name their file manager and web browser so similarly.

Ok if your USB stick is NTFS formatted then look at this setting in the registry

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments

Look for the registry value named SaveZoneInformation. Should be set 2. This will disable it for file copies, IE download files and the like

If you want more information then look at this link

Windows XP Attachment Manager

Scroll down and look at the paragraph labelled "Do not preserve zone information in file attachments"

By setting it to 2 then no ADS information is added to the file. Therefore when you use your USB stick in another computer, that computer has no idea where the file came from and will not show the warning.

While you are looking at that knowledge base article you can fine tune when you do receive a warning and what file types generate it.

Just out of general curiosity, I did - to be told: "This article applies to a different operating system than the one you are using. Article content that may not be relevant to you is disabled."
Yeah, I'm not using Windows - but it's a bit rich to have potentially useful information censored because I'm not.
Or maybe not censored - who knows - there's a pageful of text to read anyway.
Oh well, it's interesting to know about this stuff so thanks for the link.

It's astonishing the convoluted lengths Microsoft will go to in order to deflect the root problem of these "unsafe attachments", these "high-risk file types" onto anything but the OS.

Very.

I switched user agent type in firefox to IE 8, the warning is gone and the article is does not seem to change.

Ooh yeah, so it does (or doesn't, rather).
Honestly, what a crock...
Wonder how long it took for someone at MS to come up with that pointless little gem?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies only contains \Explorer, which itself has the values "(Default)" and "NoDriveTypeAutoRun". Although the "Attachments" folder is suggested in the source you gave, it doesn't appear to be in there on my machine.

Even more hysterical is that they attempt to read the operating system based on what the browser says it is.

Good point.
Always the innovators, Microsoft.

By the way Asmodeus, you really should have your USB drives formatted to fat32. As far as I know NTFS's journaling and write scheme are pretty hard on flash memory.

Can't copy larger files without it.