We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
How do i open this attachment
Options
niceday999
Posts: 1,058 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
i got an attachment today ( i know who its from ) and it ends in ".dat" .I cant get it to open . when i click on it it opens a site on windows xp with free trials to download, but i dont know what i need to download to open it.....HELP ! WHAT TYPE OF FILE IS THIS ?
0
Comments
-
Try Opening it in Microsoft Notepad or Microsoft Wordpad.Peter: Hey Lois... what's this word? Lois: Evil. Peter: And this one? Lois: Knievel. Peter: And this one? Lois: Was. Peter: And this one? Lois: Born. Peter: And this one? Lois: In.
Peter: And this one? Lois: Montana. Peter: Ah... oh, hey Lois did you know Evil Knievel was born in Montana? Family Guy - I Take Thee, Quagmire 04x210 -
I remember seeing this type of file in a VCD, but I think it is used for other stuff as well. You could try opening it with notepad, might give you a clue as to content. This file could be text, images or something else. Best way to deal with it is ask the sender which program created it.0
-
If you know who sent it, why don't you ask them?0
-
I wouldn't open it until I'd contacted the sender & checked it's a valid mail from them. It could be perfectly innocent but......Always try to be at least half the person your dog thinks you are!0
-
-
Is it called winmail.dat by any chance?niceday999 wrote: »i got an attachment today ... and it ends in ".dat"0 -
Personally I wouldn't open any attachment before scanning it, and then i would only open in a hex viewer, to see if the data was what i thought it would be.
usually .dat files are video files and can be opened in mediaplayer classic. However they could also be viruses / trojans.
Your saying you know who sent it, but i have received emails from myself well the FROM was my email address, but it was same email address they are being received on sent by other people. so just because you think its from a friend, it could be from someone else. Just cause the FROM line says your friends name dont mean to say it was them.0 -
Any File could be a .dat file. Probably going a bit to far into this, but you could take any type of file and change the extentsion. e.g a file could . Expenses.xls could be changed to Expenses.dat or to Expenses.doc . although the file wont work in the program the extentsion is set for.Peter: Hey Lois... what's this word? Lois: Evil. Peter: And this one? Lois: Knievel. Peter: And this one? Lois: Was. Peter: And this one? Lois: Born. Peter: And this one? Lois: In.
Peter: And this one? Lois: Montana. Peter: Ah... oh, hey Lois did you know Evil Knievel was born in Montana? Family Guy - I Take Thee, Quagmire 04x210 -
use filext.com going foward but probably s a winmail.dat as mentioned above0
-
Scan it before you do anything with it. There's a fairly good possibility it's a virus.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards