Vista - global change of file ownership possible?

I have 130 files in a folder which for some reason became read-only and can't be accessed by a video editing program. I can make a file usable by going to its properties and giving owner privileges to my login name (I'm the only user). this is an annoying 2-part process (you have to open and close the properties twice). there must be a way to do this globally for all files in the folder but I can't figure out how. I really don't want to do this 130 times! BTW these files are on an external drive and were migrated from an XP computer and I tried the owner change on the XP box and it's the same story.
- joe

to clarify, when I try to change the folder ownership there is an error "access denied" for each of the files inside. so I can change the folder itself but not the files, which can however be changed if done one by one.
thanks in advance for any help on this... joe

Takeown

Context Menu - Take Ownership

Have Fun.

I can't thank you enough.
worked instantly!
saved me so much grief... joey