exe files open as text files

[wapanap]

I have encountered a very strange problem. I have downloaded two exe files
recently. When I doubleclick on the exe file, instead of the application
installing, what should happen but Word of all things opens with, in the
case of one of them a box headed 'File Conversion - arw5setup.msi', and a
similar wording in the second, asking me to select the encoding that makes
my document readable. Whatever I select, the exe file then opens as a text
file. (The reference to an msi file is baffling as both files were exe
files.) When it happened the first time I thought it was a corrupt file, but
when it happened again it has to be that there is something wrong with my
system. Is this a virus? Spybot has just come up with a clean slate ...

 

[philo]

I have encountered a very strange problem. I have downloaded two exe
files recently. When I doubleclick on the exe file, instead of the
application installing, what should happen but Word of all things opens
with, in the case of one of them a box headed 'File Conversion -
arw5setup.msi', and a similar wording in the second, asking me to select
the encoding that makes my document readable. Whatever I select, the exe
file then opens as a text file. (The reference to an msi file is
baffling as both files were exe files.) When it happened the first time
I thought it was a corrupt file, but when it happened again it has to be
that there is something wrong with my system. Is this a virus? Spybot
has just come up with a clean slate ...

No way to help without the name of the file

 

[wapanap]

Thanks for that crucial intervention! For some reason, the default program
for msi files had been changed to Word. Now I changed it back everything is
fine. Thanks again!

 

[philo]

The name of the file is in the original post...

The way the OP posted...he was pretty confused as he specifically said
it ended in .exe

that's why I wanted him to confirm the file name...

as you correctly surmised...it was of course an .msi file and not .exe

 

[philo]

'JTB World Blog: Have you lost your .EXE file extension association in
Windows Vista?'
(http://blog.jtbworld.com/2007/03/have-you-lost-your-exe-file-extension.html)

as Crucial Hoax figured out...
the OP mis-posted his question

it was not an exe

LOL

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

as Crucial Hoax figured out...
the OP mis-posted his question

it was not an exe

LOL

It certainly could have been an exe, in the form of a self-extracting
zip file whose contents were the msi file. Happens all the time.