Forgetting the Fire

Well it has finally occurred. I've forgotten to bring some of the fire along.

I have always likened the process of uprading / migrating computers to the days of cavemen. I would assume one cave man (Sparky?) was responsible for keeping the fire lit as the nomadic "Hunter / Gatherers" wandered from cave to cave. The sole vital element to provide warmth, cooking, weaponry and light.

I take great pride in myself for my prudent PC dilligence. Priceless family photos, puppy dog pictures, important documents all remain intact, safe and secure in my protective lair. Always backed up to the current media format of the day, then uploaded to the new computer. ( Floppy disks, Optical Disks, Iomega, Bernoulli, SCSI, USB, DVD et al.......you name it.)

Then just yesterday, it happened. The flame was extinguished in an instant. Poof!

My spousal unit walks in with a 3.5" disk containing the last incarnation of her resume. (A paper copy does not exist.) It also contains a detailed summary of her academia, degrees, CPA certifications etc. (We have jointly run a small mom and pop business for the past 10 years, so a resume was not necessary. But now in this economy with the potential failure of our enterprise. Anybody's guess.)

Anywho, I'm like sure hon no problemo, confident in my magnetic memory mastery. A minuscule 720K (

Well, this wasn't my fault but,

Since I picked up the trojan vundo I've lost my old computer - with which I could have helped you

I replaced it with a smashing, top of the range, almost makes the tea for you, computer and find I can't get it to do a most important job for me.

I had the opportunity of helping an author by typing up his work and sending my efforts to him by email. Except, our systems don't appear to be compatible.

I cannot find a way to send him attachments in such a way that he can open them OR he can open them but they are corrupted.

I even tried typing the work as if it was an ordinary email message, but the last few lines came out scored through.

Highly embarrassing and another achievement for the cretins who invented this trojan. Not only did they cost me my computer but they've lost me a job as well.

I thought really hard about getting my new computer and thought I'd weighed up all the options and made the correct choice. Now I just look incompetent.

Have you tried to save documents with .txt or .rtf suffix?

If you can "open" his files in any word processing or text editor, then "Save As" into .txt format you should be OK. They are "universal" among platforms / applications. ( You might lose some formatting like Bold, Italic or Paragraph, Indentation etc.though)

Example: Manuscript.txt Save to you computer somewhere in like "My Documents" folder. Create e-mail and "Add Attachment" > Send.
Unless I am missing something, that should do it. (Sorry if I appear too simplistic since I don't know your level of familiarity.)

I am happy to assist you if I am able. Since I'll be hanging out with Fluffy & Scruffy until the Misses cools off.

Regards......KK


[edit on 1-4-2009 by kinda kurious]

Thank you for the advice. I had tried rtf and I think that was one that didn't work.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to lose the Bold, Italics, Paragraphs etc.

My level of familiarity is more a level of unfamiliarity

Hope you're allowed out of the dog-house soon.