Enabling Auto Filter when sheet is protected

HELP!!

I have a shared excel file that has some protected fields and some unprotected. For example, columns A-C has product information, Column D has who the product is assigned to and Column E has pricing information. Columns A-C need to stay protected because I don’t want people to manipulate the information but they should be able to use the filter to pull out what is assigned to them and enter information in Column E. Apparently, earlier versions of Excel (I’m on 2007, the rest are on 2000 or 2003) won’t let you use the auto filter if any portion of the sheet is protected. The option to use auto filter is checked as an exception to the protection and the cells that they can use are unlocked. I tried messing with the settings using an Excel 2000 but it didn’t work. I googled the issue and it said that you need a vba code, which I also tried and it didn’t work. Any suggestions??

Could you not unprotect the sheet, activate autofilter and then protect the sheet again?

That's how it was set up originally. I also tried unprotecting it, setting up the vba code, protecting it, closing and reopening the file and that didn't work either.