FIBS Board backgammon forum

Hey,

On my laptop, I just noticed that all games are being saved as Microsoft  Access shortcuts.  If i do a convert log file, it too shows up as a Microsoft  Access shortcut.  I have never used Microsoft  Access on this computer, and never did anything to make them automatically save this way.

Any ideas?


jonesyjt

Happened to me too, not so long ago. It looks like the file extension *.mat is reserved for MicroSoft access shortcuts.

It won't change anything really to the files themselves, it's just a wrong interpretation of our beloved match files by the Windows OS. As long as you don't double-click the *.mat files, you can simply ignore this. They will load fine from any other applications such as GNUBG.

For more on the farce that is Filename Extensions see Wikipedia: Filename_extension (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename_extension). You may also find Windows Annoyances (http://www.annoyances.org/) a useful resource.

The association (as it is called) between .mat and Microsoft Access will have come with some bit of software (most likely microsoft, quite likely windows itself) if you've never had Access installed on there, couldn't tell which bit exactly off the top off my head :)

Should you desire, you can change the association:


 select a .mat file in the Windows Explorer (Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer)

 right click and select properties

 click on change next to 'Opens with:'

 use the dialog to select your prefered application (gnubg I would imagaine)



or, for extra marks, you can edit the association directly in the registry :)