This still seems to be happening in python 3.0 as well. Here is the
output from
>1. open cmd.exe
>2. cd \python26
>3. python.exe Lib\idlelib\idle.py

C:\Program Files\Python>python.exe Lib\idlelib\idle.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "Lib\idlelib\idle.py", line 22, in <module>
    idlelib.PyShell.main()
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 1385, in main
    shell = flist.open_shell()
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 276, in
open_shell

    self.pyshell = PyShell(self)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 800, in
__init__
    OutputWindow.__init__(self, flist, None, None)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\OutputWindow.py", line 16,
in __init
__
    EditorWindow.__init__(self, *args)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\EditorWindow.py", line 243,
in __ini
t__
    self.update_recent_files_list()
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\EditorWindow.py", line 761,
in updat
e_recent_files_list
    rf_file = open(self.recent_files_path, 'w')
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 278, in __new__
    return open(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 222, in open
    closefd)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 615, in __init__
    _fileio._FileIO.__init__(self, name, mode, closefd)
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied:
'C:\\Users\\Isaac\\.idlerc\\recent-files.
lst'