I spend the better part of a day figuring out this relatively simple
problem with the help files in IDLE with python 2.6 on a mac OSX

I came about the solution by following the code errors all over
up and down the program files.

Eventual I came about the public folder ex..
Users/ME/Public

I spent time looking through the properties and settings tabs editing my
firewall settings and file sharing options (I reverted them when i fixed
the problem)
but i ended up removing all file sharing settings anyway.

I simply right clicked on the public folder and my permission was set
to "Write only(Drop Box)"
a simple change to "Reed and Write" fixed the IDLE error.

Hope i just saved some one some time.