ATTN: Computer braniacs: When is a program not a program?

Question

I've asked this question of several people who consider themselves computer braniacs. Alas, no one even has a plausible guess, much less an answer.

For the past several years on 3 different pcs I've found in c:\Windows Explorer\Programs\ executable applications which, when double-clicked to open, give me a file full of hockey pucks written in gibberish. The file starts with the initials MZ and a little space down the page is "THIS PROGRAM CANNOT RUN IN MS DOS!" (I'm not shouting, I'm quoting. Text is in all caps.)

Looking at them in Windows file tree, these files look like any other program. They have cute little icons and everything. Type of file is "Application".

All the research I've done has hit a dead end.

I'm betting on you kind folks out in www land for some help.

Any thoughts?

OS is XL on Dell pc.

Here's a small randon sample, there are literally 100's of files that have this charming eccentricity.

BCMSMD2K.exe, BCMSMMSG.exe, BCMSMU.exe, KHALMNPR.Exe, notepad.exe, regedit.exe, slrundll.exe, twunk_16.exe, twunk_32.exe, uninst.exe, winhelp.exe, winhelp32.exe.

I've faithfully captalized and used uncaptalized letters as found in the file names.

My dear Mr. Butchell,
I do believe you know the answer and that the articles you refered me to also contain the answer for which I diligently seek. Unfortunately, I only speak english. They are, therefore, of little benefit without a translation.

Answer 1

http://www.cfxweb.net/articles/hugi21/co4khint.shtml

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dndebug/html/msdn_peeringpe.asp

read away, you just have to know where to look, being an old fart has it's advantages

Answer 2

A program is not a program when you are at a play, then a program is a play-bill =p

er, okay. Honestly, these programs (well, ones like notepad I'm not sure about the others) should be launching when you double click them.

Just how are you "opening" them? are you trying to open them from a word processor?

What you are describing is what happens when a word processor trys to understand the code written in a format it doesn't like.

If you try to open an MP3 in MS word then you will see a similar thing. An MP3 contains data that MS word can't interpret - but it will try. You might even see a few bits of text such as your, "does not work in MS-DOS" example, but most of it will be unrecognized characters.

These are just programs written in (probably C, or C++ someone can correct me on that) They should be launching (the same way your web browser 'launches') the application when you double click them why they aren't I have no idea, sorry.

Answer 3

programs are always programs. The reason they don't run when you randomly click is because they are probably part of or expecting to be called by a certain process of the OS. It might also be expecting to receive some input variable.

The programs you've listed out are programs except for notepad and regedit woudl never be run by themselves. But rather are apps that serve some purpose of the Operating system. You Operating System is in itself a program that manages your computer system. So its only to be expected that it will run other programs to help it achieve some goal.


Notepad is really something you should be able to launch from your run control. Just hit run and type notepad and run it. Regedit is also something you can run like that. although i'd be careful with regedit. Unless you know what the hell you are doing. Regedit is used to register applications to run on a machine during startup.

Answer 4

There are a multitude of reasons for this. The best I can come up with are:

1. The program files are damaged and thus the program can't run.

2. There are required components that we're never installed, overwritten or deleted.

3. The program was or is the remnants of a virus or spyware and it isn't designed to produce a visible output.

Answer 5

What's the full name of the file (the extension is what I'm looking for here).


Ok, you can get the file name, with extension, by right clicking on it and selecting properties. Where it says Target is the name. Write down the full name. Then, click "run" (should be on your "start"), and type in the full name. Cut and paste won't work. If it's a dos program, that might work.

I still haven't heard what the extension is!

Answer 6

Whats the full file name?

Looks like an .exe application thats executable but its trying to use MS DOS to launch it. I can help you launch it if I knew the correct extension and file name.

Look for it again and the right click on it and go to properties. Tell me what extension it has and what the name of it is.

Extension meaning .doc, .exe? The last 3 letters that the file ends with. You might need to just make it open with the proper software.

Let me know.

Answer 7

when the program controld u (u do not expect me to read the whole thing, right?)