Gooboldygook Translator needed

[spy1]

You know when you click on all those windows files and it presents you with something that looks like a greek on a drunk?

Is there a free program you can get that will translate that stuff into something resembling English? I'm not sure whether what that stuff is is binary or what.

Anyone have a clue what I'm talking about? Pete

[spy1]

For stuff that looks like this: Ï*þÅýtofãÑšN - and how can that possibly consume 57.8KB? Pete

[Prince_Serendip]

Hi spy1! I'm pretty sure that's code used to encrypt the actual program language. A lot of programmers use it. Prevents tampering. I'd try running this by an MVP and see what they say. Check Luna's latest topic here for the link.

[Checkout]

It may also be Unicode. I don't think ME (which is what you've got, right, Pete?) supports it. It would account for the size of the beast. NT, W2K and above all support Unicode.

[spy1]

Thanks!

Still looking for a (hopefully free) way to decode it, though.

D/l'ed and installed Textview, hopefully I'll have a chance to play with it this weekend. Don't know if it'll do what I'm wanting, but others can check it out here:

http://www.flos-freeware.ch . Pete

[FanJ]

Hi Pete,

I don't know whether this might help:

1)
Try in TDS-3: Utilities > String Extractor
Who knows?

2)
I don't know whether Unicode (about which Checkout posted) is the same as UUencode.
Powerdesk Pro from Ontrack gives the possibility to decode that.

3)
Try a Hexeditor.
Who knows?

[spy1]

Um, a hexeditor? Such as (think free ) ... Pete

[FanJ]

As always: look in the List of lists:

http://lists.gpick.com./pages.asp?page=Hex_Editors&SID=O89684700965881

There are some free ones mentioned there.