emails with .dat attachments

[suzeybq]

Hi... I keep getting some attachments that cme as .dat files, and I can't get them to open. I have been able to open one that has been created using excel but when I do open it I get all kinds of crap such as squares,dollar signs,<> signs, etc so that the spreed sheet is unreadable. Am I doing something wrong?? Could the sender be saving these files incorrectly for sending via email???? Am I just stuck on some basic elementary concept that noone has bothered to explain to me???

HELP!!!!

[Welshjim]

suzeybq--.dat files are data files. They are not meant to be "read" by casual users, although as you have seen they can be opened in Wordpad or Notepad, and all you see is gibberish.
.dat files assist other files to operate.
Can you ask the person who sent them to you what information he is trying to send you?
Sometimes .dat files help a part of the message being sent to you to become readable. This could be, for example, if the message is sent in MIME form.
Unless your friend tells you he is sending the .dat files for a reason, I suggest just ignoring them.

[Tuttle]

If the attachments are all called winmail.dat, then it's the sender's fault - they're using Outlook and assuming you can read Microsoft Rich Text email. What they need to do is go into their Personal Address Book, go into the properties for your entry and uncheck the box to always send mails in Microsoft Exchange rich text format.

[suzeybq]

Thank you for all of your help. I have contacted the person who sent the problem emails, and she just had to change the files to .xls format.

thanks again