22nd May 2002

From the "Confirm Alan One" department: Lockergnomie Anthony Lieuallen brings to light a tip to help those who have lost a potentially important option. "I once clicked on a ZIP file in Internet Explorer and un-checked 'Always ask before opening this type of file?' mistakenly. The option to save ZIP files never showed up again. I found that if you open up the Windows Explorer, select 'Folder Options' from the View menu, then select the 'File Types' tab, you can locate the ZIP file association and Edit it. At that point, you can place a checkmark back into the 'Confirm open after download' field. Once again, you will be prompted to open or save a file before downloading it." Icons tell only half the tale. Especially for those darn DLLs, odd OCXs, vexing VXDs, evil EXEs, and devilish DRVs. Okay, they're not as bad as I'm making them out to be, but sometimes I bet you'd like to know about a file's origin. Your system directories are (most likely) littered with orphaned files; if a filename means abso (smurfin) lutely nothing to you, right-click on it and pull up its properties. Select the 'Version' tab if it is available. From there, you'll be able to check the file's version (duh), description, and creator. It's the first step in troubleshooting file removal. Does it need to be there? Don't throw it away if you're not 100% sure.