Unreadable back-up files

[D. Krohn]

I recently bought a new computer and transferred both
Excel and Word files from my old computer to a CD for
installation to my new computer. When I accessed the
files, they appeared as a bunch of symbols (hieroglyphics)
and I can't seem to get them back into readable text.

My old computer used Windows 98. My new computer uses
Windows 2000. Both computers used Office 2000.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bob I]

Are the files now located on the new harddrive, have the "read-only"
attribute turned off and, you are opening the files through "File",
"Open" dialog?