Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Help!

I can not open Text files? :eek:

Please see attached image, any help is greatly appreciated. :)

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Run notepad first ... can you load the document into it ???

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Thank's for quick reply Nemisis.

I have tried to open Notepad from start menu, and also from

start/all programs/accessories.

However I am still getting the same message, but if I enter the Windows directory Notpad will open from there?

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

So if you do Start/Run and type Notepad what happens ?

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Looks like the file association for txt is corrupted.

Hopefully an XP user will paste the steps necessary to reset it (I can't recall the menu sequence and am on NT right now) I think it's somewhere in the windowsexplorer options menu.

Till then try opening notepad first then either do file open and browse to the file, or drag the file into notepad.

Also a useful tip would be to put a shortcut to notepad in your "send-to" folder. That way you can right click on a file and select send-to

BTW
Why scrub out the user name when it's plainly visible in the window title ?

EDIT
Having just read the rest of the comments in the thread.
If notepad wont open try wordpad
I'd also suggest a thorough virus check in case a nasty is corrupting exe's.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

:dunce:

Well spotted Meta, so much for me being a smarty pants!

Thank's for the advice.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

I was leading to that .... :( but was seeing if may be somethina a little more nasty .... :cry:

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Nemisis,

When I start/run notepad, it states,

"Notepad is not a valid Win32 application"?

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Ok ... interesting prob here ...

Can you try the same but use WORDPAD instead of notepad ... does it run.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

I have just managed to "run" wordpad no problem.

I have also run Adaware and Spybot and they did not come up with anything significant apart from cookies?

As I said earlier, notepad will open from within Windows, weird?

I suppose next step will be a virus scan?

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

hi , i have just zipped up notepad from my win32 folder , if you want to try it , replace your copy with mine and see if it will work , mind you i am not saying it will but there you go :)

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

This looks bad. Check to see whether you have a virus. Also check to see whether you have duplicates of notepad.exe on hard disk, one of which is bogus and comes earlier in the PATH than the true notepad.exe.

To check whether some of your Windows files are corrupted, open a command prompt window and type the command sfc. You might need to supply your XP installation CD-ROM for the check.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Can you do a search for notepad* and we'll see if there is a duplication of the name on the current path.

Another thing to check is ...

Right click on My computer ... properties ... Advanced ... Environment Variables

Check that windows\system32 is in the PATH

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

I dont think that Notepad is the issue here-what is it you're trying to open that won't open in Notepad Mixteus??

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

dont think so neil i have just tried opening a zip file with notepad and it does but produces a load of garbage :(

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

There are certain files which will make Notepad give this error. I think it depends on the file's size.

Having said that, in this case I don't think that is the problem, as mixteus says the error appears even when Notepad is started by itself. I tend to agree, it sounds like a corrupt Notepad.exe file. Maybe worth scanning for a virus just in case.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Try running notepad.exe from the start/run prompt. It maybe that exe has got lost from the list of extensions to automatically check.

If that does not work, try running %SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe. That should eliminate any path problems.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

It's possible that a document (maybe) has been saved as notepad.exe on the path ... which would cause this error .... hence the search.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

May pay to back track a little and change your folder view settings so you can see the extensions of all files.

Having done that next step will be to confirm the file you are trying to open has the txt extension and not an EXE which is the way it is being dected right now.

Then right click a known good txt file and check it is set to open with notepad and confirm this is the "official" version of notepad.exe in the main Windows directory by using the "Browse" link. (The true Notepad.exe is located in the main Windows root directory btw)

The above check will at least make sure "normal" txt files are assocaited with notepad correctly and all that will be left then is to check the contents of the specific txt file giving the problem.

My guess is that the file in the attachment is not a valid txt file but possibly a renamed exe file or some form of archive file.

Hope that helps

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

folder options , file types , scroll down to .txt and make sure it is notepad next to it , is that what you were saying sociable ?????????? :)

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Can be done that way too but you can actually set the file association via an individual file by right clicking it selecting "properties" then using the browse option and making sure the always open with box is checked after following the open with option in properties.

The view settings change is in the "View" not "file type" tab as that way you can check what file extension the file has. The default in XP is to hide extensions of known file types which makes that process harder which is why I added that step.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

That's exactly why adding a shortcut to either notepad or quikview into your send-to menu is such a help. It lets you view the header of any file from a simple rightclick within explorer. For example to see which version of autocad created a dwg.

EDIT
On non NT systems Notepad has a filesize limitation of about 40K

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Till Mixteus gets back to us we wont know for sure,
but it certainly looks like a rogue duplicate notepad exe on the path, as has already been speculated.

Mix, can you check the properties of each of the start menu entries that you used to open notepad and see where they point to. Also do a search of all drives for notepad.* and see what turns up.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

I am trying to open a "txt" file.

As paul666 has stated I think the association has become corrupted.

Thank you for your reply.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Ok Meta,I will do a search for Notepad's,btw I completed a scan and Norton came up with 3 suspects.

These have now been removed.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Meta,

I have done search and came up with 17 files,2 of which I copied from paulyoung666.

I think TXT files have been associated incorrectly,god knows how.

I went into folder option's and looked at the association for TXT file and it is linked to

"Windows Socket 32 Bit DLL"?

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Think you've found the prob there :D

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

more and more like a virus :eek: :eek: :eek:

or am i :confused: again :eek:

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Ok that is the error which is linked to the files picked up by Norton.

Problem is Norton only removes the virus it can not repair the damage it did prior to detection.

Follow the directions given to re-associate txt files with the "Notepad.exe" already given and you will be back to normal as the virus which made the change has already been removed by Norton.

EDIT 1: BTW if you are on XP or ME make sure to turn off system restore and run another scan then reboot and do not turn system restore back on until you have had a full system scan come up with a completely clean result.

EDIT 2: When you run Norton make sure to note the name of any virus detected as some will require a specific removal tool and specific repair steps available from the main Norton site.

EDIT 3: The explanation for the original error message is that the virus application set to run on opening a txt file had been removed by Norton and so there was no valid program to access. Odds are there will be some residual stuff in the registry linked to this and the Norton site should have details on how to fix that too.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

No joy!
I can right click file and change to "open with" Wordpad but it will not play ball with Notepad. :scratch:

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

There is a trojan that diguises itself as notepad.exe - see here

A quick test is to look for "note.com" on your pc or check the size of notepad.exe (which should be around 50k).

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Drastic I know but sounds like best bet is a full format and re-install of Windows.

The source of this problem was almost certainly a worm and at the end of the day starting from scratch may be the quickest as well as safest route.

BTW should you go down this route make sure you have a backup copy of the main MSBlaster patch so that can be applied before reconnecting to the net after the re-install.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Mixteus,

Both Nemesis and I suggested that you should search your system for filenames of the form notepad.* to see whether there are any bogus files of this name earlier in the PATH than the true notepad.exe, and we have yet to see the full outcome of that. You should post the actual name of the found file (including the extension that Windows hides by default), and the folder name in which it resides. You should also post your current PATH setting so that we can see which directories are included in the PATH before the standard Windows one.

You can also do an sfc to check the Windows files on your system, and this is much less destructive than doing a format and re-installation.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

Fair point it's just that for the average user the format and re-install can be easier and has the benefit of knowing everything is back as it should be.

Above all, time was my main consideration as often starting from scratch is far faster than trying to work backwards from an already infected system.

But yes I accept it is a drastic solution and as such a last resort only to be used if other fixes dont get the desired result.

Re: Help! I can not open Text files?
 

If have now done a scan on my main system and it has also found the same virus.

However after removing the infected files from safe mode I can still open a .TXT file with notepad by default.

I have also done a search for notepad on both PC's, one found 17 files and the other only 9,this leads me to think my laptop is compromised.

Time maybe for the sledgehammer approach of a complete Format and reinstall,I agree with Sociable sometimes it might be the fastest solution to the problem?

I also found this

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/35174.html


Regards