Have your computer questions answered here! Search the PC Doctor archive or submit a question of your own at info@athollibrary.org
Dear PC Doctor:
Sometimes I get attachments from people and someone told me that opening them can be dangerous. Is that true and how would I know? Also how would I know what program to use to open it?
Marissa
Dear Marissa:
There are certain attachments that are likely to contain a virus so you do want to be vigilant about what you are opening. Look at the attachment name and if it has an ending or ‘extension’ of .pps, .exe., .scr or .pif I would not open any of these without first verifying with the sender that they meant to send it and what it is. If it is legitimate I would still suggest that you make sure that your virus protection is up to date before opening it.
Once you have determined that it is okay to open, just double click on it and it should open up with the program that it was created in. If you don’t have the correct program, you can download a viewer that will allow you to look at and print it out. To do this go to www.microsoft.com/viewerand in the search box type ‘viewer’. A list of the various ones will display, for example Word, Excel and so on. Download what you need and then try to open it.
PC Doctor
Dear PC Doctor:
I have a document created in Office 2007 and I can’t seem to open it at other computers. I understand from a friend that it is because it is the newest program and that the computer I bringing it to only has Office 2003. Is there a way to open it up?
Ted
Dear Ted:
Your friend is correct that while 2007 can open up all older programs that older versions of Office cannot open newer ones. That is why when I am working in 2007, I ALWAYS save my documents in the older format in case I want to pass them to someone else to work on or see or if I wanted to work at a different workstation.
To do this, just go up to the Start Orb (in 2007) and click ‘save as’. From the drop down menu select “Word 97-2003 Document’ and name your file. Now you will be able to use it on older versions.
Another alternative if you are allowed to download software is to go to www.office.microsoft.comand search for the “Office Compatibility Pack for 2007’. You can download this file and it will allow you to open, edit and save your document. The problem is that it will change some of the formatting on your document and if you scroll down to the bottom of the download page, it will tell you what those changes will be.
PC Doctor
Until next time… happy computing!
Posted: to Athol Library News on Fri, Mar 12, 2010
Updated: Fri, Mar 12, 2010