you could use the FileSytemObject class..
like this:
VB Code:
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim fso As New FileSystemObject
Dim f As File
Set f = fso.GetFile("C:\bob.txt")
'Since all read-only files should have an attributes property that
'is an odd no, this should work...
If (f.Attributes And 1) = 0 Then f.Attributes = f.Attributes + 1
Set fso = Nothing
End Sub
NOTE: You'll need to set a reference to the Microsoft Scripting Run-time for this to work