Openinng a downloaded file in Windows 7 Home Edition

I recently went from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows 7 Home Edition. As a subscriber to the free game giveaway site I often downloaded and played the
games offered by their site. In XP I never had a problem downloading and then installing their games. However with Windows 7 it always shows notepad
as the the choice to open the files for the game downloaded. In this form the game can't open for me. I tried to use the save file option saying
use desktop but the file still shows only the notepad mode to try and open the file. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong. I have tried several times but still can't get it right. Thank you.

What is the full name of the file you downloaded (including the extension - like .zip or .exe)?

Edit -

On the outside chance the extension is .exe - follow the link below, and review the options to restore the default file associations.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950505

I am using Firefox and the file is 825MB and readme.txt.file It is a casual game so it shouldn't be something complicated. I can't understand why I can only
get notepad as the option to open a file...I tried to use desktop and file did go there but again it had notepad as the file open option ...

I think you may have named the file when you downloaded it. Try renaming the file to TheGame.exe, and then click it. 825MB is far too large to be a text file.

O.K. will keep trying...thanks for all the help.

If this is the GGAOTD, I downloaded it too. I assume you unzipped it first? And then you used the Setup file, not the Setup.gcd?

I downloaded this game too .... to my Win7 machine.
[Although I have the "Enterprise" 64-bit version of Win7.]

The zipped download went directly to my "Downloads" folder.

I then created a new folder (which I named "Gametitle" Setup Files) and moved the download (still zipped) into it.

I did the unzipping whilst in that new folder and then immediately installed the game - following the instructions provided in the "readme" file that was part of the download.

Everything went well and the game runs fine

And I just noticed that you said you are opening the Readme.txt file - yes, this will open in Notepad as it is a text file as indicated by the name of the file. You must use the Setup file to install the game. The Readme file is just that.. a text file with instructions on how to install the game. Or am I misreading what you said?

I downloaded to my Windows 8.1 computer and it worked just fine.

Is the readme.txt file 825MB?

I must be doing something wrong for some reason. As I said when I was using Windows XP I never had any issues. It seems to me that when I download the file
and then try to open it I only see the file in notepad form....so when I say open the file it tells me notepad cannot do this....I always say save the file
after the download and it always shows a picture of a notepad with the file and then I can't see any other file to try to run the game because the file will
not open for me at all. I definitely am missing something....will have to experiment with this. Thank you for the help...I have said save the file to desktop and it just shows the same notepad file there too. I did search the internet for more information and one article I found said Firefox can download a file
but can't open a zip file...???

What link are you downloading the file from?
Are you getting it from here or a different site?
http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/

If the file has a .txt as the extension, Windows will try to open it with Notepad or Wordpad. If the file has an .exe as the extension, it should not try to open in Notepad.

If file extensions are hidden, as is the Windows default, you have to right-click the name of the file and choose Properties to see what extension the file really has. There have been viruses called filename.txt.exe that display as filename.txt because Windows hid the real extension.

If the file really does have a .txt on the end, Notepad will open it. If there is no extension, you may have to add an .exe on the end of it.

I still don't understand why the name of the file is "Readme.txt" if it's a game installer file. Why call an installer "Readme?" And if it really is a text file, 825MB is far too large and 825KB would be more believable.

Here are the three files that will be in the unzipped file... You are unzipping first, right? You double click on the Setup Application file to install the game. If you don't see all of these files in the unzipped file, something is amiss with the download. The unzipped file will be named Dreamscape, The Sandman Collector's Edition if this is the game you downloaded from GGAOTD.

Readme - Text Document - 1KB
Setup - Application 3218 KB
Setup.gcd - GCD file 875,960 KB

Yes, I downloaded it from the game giveaway site. Now of course the offer is discontinued. I will try again next time a game is offered. Because I wasn't
sure about what was going wrong with the file I deleted it. So I will now have to wait for another game offer and try again....thanks again for all the help.

You never did answer as to whether you had unzipped the file, so when you download another one, just right click on the downloaded file and select Extract All. You said something about Firefox not unzipping a file... it's a browser and does not unzip your file. You must use either the built-in "unzipper" in Windows 7 or 3rd party unzip software such as 7-Zip. After unzipping the tile, then go to the unzipped file and double click on Setup Application. That's all you need to do!

When you deleted the file, did you send it to the Recycle Bin? If so, you can restore it.

Even though the activation is expired, if you restored it, you could at least tell if you have ever unzipped it and if you did unzip it, do you have the 3 files I mentioned.

Once it's downloaded you should see a window open at the bottom right of the screen asking what to do with the file; at least it's what I see. There's a down arrow to the right of Save which gives you several choices as to what to do with the file. I always chose Save As and direct it to my Download section in a folder specifically for games and then a folder for that particular game. I'll then unzip the file then run the Setup.exe application.

That's what I do, too, Homer6

That depends on the browser... My version of IE opens something on the bottom left and my Firefox opens something on the upper right. I should do that too... mine all go straight to my Downloads file which is getting pretty cluttered!

Drac, mine was getting awfully crowded too, until I started creating folders for the type of downloaded file. Then I'd create an individual file for the specific downloaded file and unzip the file in that folder. Misc. stuff still crowds the download folder, but at least applications are a bit more organized.

It's on my rather long list of stuff I should do! I keep saying I need a good long blizzard to let me spend some quality time in my PC corner and my reading corner!

A good blizzard would help keep a body home, and it could be used as a reason to do needed housekeeping on the computer, but only if that same blizzard didn't knock out the power.

Yes, there's always that niggling little issue!

And sometimes that nagging little issue can last for days. Been there, done that for several days.