I am running 98 Windows SE on a 7598 Compaq computer. I have saved some files to CD's and also to floppies. When I began to check the files I got this message. "NAME OF FILE" is not a valid W32 application. What did I do wrong and what can I do to correct this. These are pretty important files and it would be next to impossible to rebuild them.I just finished doing them and I thought I was making backups. Boy is this a shock! Grandma Fern

Hello Grandma, Monday, August 1, 2005, 3:09:17 AM, you wrote: GF> I am running 98 Windows SE on a 7598 Compaq computer. I have saved GF> some files to CD's and also to floppies. When I began to check the GF> files I got this message. "NAME OF FILE" is not a valid W32 GF> application. What did I do wrong and what can I do to correct GF> this. These are pretty important files and it would be next to GF> impossible to rebuild them.I just finished doing them and I GF> thought I was making backups. This is usually because of an incorrect file association - Windows looks at the file type and decides what should be used to open that kind of file ( a text file opens in Notepad, a Word Document in Word .. etc etc ). This is fine until that association goes wrong - and then Windows tries to do the wrong thing. In your case, Windows is trying to run your files as a program and of course this can't be done !! Now - to fix it you have to reset the file association manually. Not too difficult to do providing you know what program *should* be used to open that file. As long as you know this, put a CD or Floppy into the drive and use Windows Explorer to view the contents. Now - hold down the shift key and then right click on a file that isn't opening correctly. You'll get a menu pop up with an "Open with.." item - click on this and you'll be presented with a list of all the different programs on your system. Look down the list till you find the one that you want the file to open in. Now click on the 'OK' button. If your file opens up correctly - repeat the above but this time tick the 'Always open with this application' box before clicking on 'OK' and now Windows will remember what you want it to do ..... till next time it forgets <lol> HTH -- Best regards, Barry mailto:barry@yobunny.co.uk MicroSoft Free Zone running Xandros 2.0 Deluxe