More and more people have called recently telling me they have received an attachment in an email that will not open on their computer. There are a number of possible reasons for this,but two are the most common. The first is that your protection software (anti-virus,anti-spyware,etc.) is blocking the file from opening. This can occur if the file is infected with a virus,but it can also occur if it contains certain types of non-dangerous commands or macros.
Macros are a series of commands that execute automatically when you access certain files. They are useful,but protection software is cautious with files that contain them because virus creators have used them to automatically download and install their viruses in unsuspecting computers. If you are sure the file is clean and it is important that you open it,you can temporarily disable your anti-virus program.
The more common reason for failure to open an attachment is that you don’t have the same program the file was created with. When this is the case you will usually get a window that asks you what program to use. You may have the option to also search the web for the correct program. This works occasionally,but usually you will have to pay someone for the program if you want to use it.
The easiest solution is to reply to the sender and ask them to send the file in a format you know you can use. The best format for files you can look at but not modify without special software is PDF (Portable Document Format). This works well if you are sending or receiving information and don’t need changes made. There are free and low-cost PDF creators available on the net and at technology stores. I personally use PDF Creator (available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) but there are many others.
The most common file-opening problem I see recently is people receiving Microsoft created files with the x extender from Office 2007. The standard file extenders for Word,Excel and Powerpoint are *.doc,*.xls and *.ppt respectively. The new file extenders are *.docx,*.xlsx and *.pptx and you can’t open them with earlier versions.
Microsoft has “thoughtfully” provided a translator for these new files so you can open them with your older version of Office,but of course they don’t advertise it because they want you to go out and buy Office 2007 for anywhere from $150 to $700. You can download this helpful utility from http://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Open-XML-Converter/3000-18483_4-146736.html You should also be aware that some documents may still not work on older versions if they contain content only usable with 2007.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 27 years (locally with Musicomp &Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation,service,training and repair. If you have questions,you can reach him at 668-7118.
