text: attn:  computer braniacs:   when is a program not a program? 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:&#92;windows explorer&#92;programs&#92; 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? 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