Why is Conversion File now there?

[melissa k]

I did a Mcafee "quick clean" and now when I go to look at my files in My
Documents, unless I typed them under Microsoft Word, I can't read them. All
of my ebooks that I downloaded, my scans, my pictures, everything comes up
asking for "file conversion". I did system restore, installed adobe acrobat
reader 8, and reinstalled all of my microsoft word 2002 disks. All I get are
these symbols and letters and numbers where the original photographs and
scans and ebooks were! What is going on, and most important, how do I fix
it?!!!!

 

[Terry Farrell]

<and reinstalled all of my microsoft word 2002 disks>

Why? Did McAfee clean out your hard drive completely? I don't follow what
you have done. Quick clean should only remove rubbish on your drive; it
should not necessitate reinstalling anything. Please explain clearly what
you have done and what has happened because just running Quick Clean is not
an explanation.

 

[melissa k]

I'm not sure what I did. I only reinstalled the disks because I thought
since I am having trouble retrieving anything out of my documents, therer
must be something wrong there. Also, something turned off my virus
protection TWICE in a few minutes the other day that I didn't authorize. I
am not computer savvy at all, so this is the best I can come up with as to
what happened. Whenever I try to open any of my files under "My Documents",
it asks me which conversion I would like to use (plain text, encoded text,
rich textformat, etc.) but no matter what I choose, I still get the numbers,
letters, and symbols. Is there a way to go back and fix it?

 

[Graham Mayor]

It sounds as though the file associations in the registry have been screwed.
The only practical solution is to individually select a file of each type
that doesn't work in Windows Explorer, Right click and select 'Open with'.
Pick the application you would normally use for this file type e.g. for
e-books choose Adobe Reader 8 and check the box 'always open with this
application'. Repeat for each of the other file types you have wrecked.

It will help to display the extensions of known file types in Windows
Explorer (Tools > Folder Options > View).

It is not a good idea to use registry 'cleaning' tools if you don't
understand the registry.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[melissa k]

Thank you Graham Mayor! It worked. I can access all of my files now. I
only have one file of scans that are in a .pvm format, and I don't recall
ever seeing it like that before. Can I change the format back to what I think
was a .jpeg? Thanks a million.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Changing the file extension will not change the content of the file, only
what Windows identifies it as - and you have already seen what happens when
Windows gets it wrong. See
http://www.convert-extensions.com/format/PVM-OSTA-org-MusicPhotoVideo.html.

If you think these files really are jpegs try and open them in a graphics
application first.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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