Windows Vista Computer only seeing USB devices with right click

When I go to "Computer" on my Vista laptop the icons for my external drive and jump drive are there. If I double click nothing happens at all. If I right click and choose open I get an error that says "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." But . . . when I choose open Autoplay and pick the option to "Open folder to view files." everything is accessible. And programs that need to access those drives can do so with no problem. Any ideas? I am thinking it is a setting somewhere I ******* up.

Thanks,
Jim

 

When you select Open Autoplay, there should be a link Set Autoplay defaults in Control Panel. There, make sure the checkbox Use Autoplay for all media and devices is ticked.

External drives can come with software that can "add functionality ", it's fine if it works correctly, if it doesn't...

Go to the drive manufacturer's website and look up the FAQs for it. Check if it comes with a software program, uninstall it if you don't need it.

Matt