Can't open files/folders in C drive

[BMM389EC]

Help! Not very computer literate. If I go to the C drive on my computer and try and open a file there, it asks me what program I want to use to open the file. Only if I work my way through all the options one by one, none of them work for some reason or another. So in the end I've got stuff on my C drive that I don't know what it is and can't open? Help?!!!

[RW-1]

What you have is a file that is not recognized by your system as having a program associated with it for opening.

Please give an example of what you are trying to open, and we can proceed from there.

[Lurk R]

As RW-1 wrote, try and give examples including the file extension. It sounds like you are trying to open (for example) an .xls file without having Excel installed.

[BMM389EC]

Example is: altb747.cfg
Asks me what program I want to use to open this file. Then if I try all the options it gives me I still can't open it. Other examples: dummy3.tmp and Pdoxusrs
Thanks

[spannersatcx]

I guess from the file name that it is a MS flt sim config (cfg) file. When it says what to open it with choose any text program, i.e. notepad, wordpad, word etc. As at the end of the day it is only a text file containing info for flt sim to use certain things. And when opened up will look something like this:

[fltsim.0]
title=Flight One 747-400 Cathay Pacific
sim=F1-747-CP
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
checklists=


[forcefeedback]
gear_bump_nose_magnitude=6000
gear_bump_nose_direction=18000
gear_bump_nose_duration=250000
gear_bump_left_magnitude=6000
gear_bump_left_direction=35500
gear_bump_left_duration=250000
gear_bump_right_magnitude=6000
gear_bump_right_direction=00500
gear_bump_right_duration=250000
ground_bumps_magnitude1=3250
ground_bumps_angle1=8900
ground_bumps_intercept1=5.0
ground_bumps_slope1=0.48
ground_bumps_magnitude2=750
ground_bumps_angle2=9100
ground_bumps_intercept2=0.075
ground_bumps_slope2=1.0
crash_magnitude1=10000
crash_direction1=01000
crash_magnitude2=10000
crash_direction2=9000
crash_period2=75000
crash_duration2=2500000

Hope that helps <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[BMM389EC]

Thanks, that helped for that one. But still can't open:
Btrieve.trn
Config.old
dw
dummy3.tmp
Pdoxusrs
SB Log
Scandisk
testfile
When I open some of them with word, it comes up as hundreds of little squares?
Any ideas?

[BOAC]

Notepad

[fobotcso]

Some of the files you're trying to open are binary and therefore unreadable to most of us when viewed in a text reader. They're even unreadable to Windows (eg Notepad or Write) and Office (eg Word) applications and that is why you are seeing those little squares. The application you are using is reading binary code and trying to ascribe ASCII or Unicode characters to what it reads. But because there are no codes for a lot of what it finds, it puts a square there instead

Some things are just not meant to be.

Norton Utilities includes an application that will allow you to read (and edit at your peril!) the binary code. "Edit at your peril" because you could screw up a binary configuration file for an application and it will never work again.

I can't help wondering why you want to do this!

[ 16 January 2002: Message edited by: fobotcso ]</p>

[bblank]

If you have Quattro Pro then the *.trn file is a translation support file. No reason for you to open it. If you leave it where you find it then the program will find it. If it is in the C directory then I would guess it is a legacy application.

The pdoxusrs file is almost certainly a Paradox database file. Are you sure that there is no extension?

The *.tmp is most likely a temporary file that was not cleaned up by the application that created it because of an abnormal termination. Again, if it is in C then I would guess that it was created by a legacy application.

The config.old is most likely the previous version of your config.sys file. I suspect that a legacy application rewrote the config.sys and saved the original as config.old (which is an old windows3.x practice.) You can check to see if the time stamp on your config.sys is newer than the other system files in the cwindows directory. This conjecture, however, is not consistent with opening difficulties since the file should contain nothing but ASCII text.

The only scandisk file that I can think of that might be in the C directory is the scandisk.log log file. Again, that should be editor-readable.

I'm with fobotcso - can't imagine why you are trying to open these files. On the other hand ever since win3.x I have been urging the developers within earshot that their applications should on installation create an inventory of all installed files with time stamp and file size.

[BMM389EC]

Thanks Guys
No real reason, as I mentioned earlier, I'm not very clued up on computer issues- basically just interested to see whats there. Seems like these things are best left alone. Pandora's BoX?!

[Mac the Knife]

Only two things smell like fish.
And one of them is fish....

Surely a troll.

[spannersatcx]

config.old is also readable using notepad as it is a text based file and as said before is just a backup of your old config.sys. You can read similar files like autoexec.bat etc etc and edit them as well in windoze click start run and type sysedit and the system files like config.sys come up in notepad and can be edited. You could also do them in DOS at the C\&gt; type edit config.sys etc etc

Scandisk - there are several files on a pc with scandisk.*** one being .exe to run the program one of the others is scandisk.log, again this is a text file and can be read with notepad.