Resources

The DKD File Extension

The DKD file extension is typically used in one of two ways. For example, this file extension is associated with karaoke files and gaming files dealing with submarines. The answer to how to open DKD files relies upon where the file originated. Let’s take a look.

DKD Files Related to Karaoke

Finding information on the Internet regarding Karaoke DKD files right now is sketchy at best. The Nabble.com forum has an extensive discussion on Karaoke DKD files that may provide some insight to users that want to use their Karaoke DVDs outside of their official karaoke machines. The forum is located here. Beware, this particular thread is fairly technical and may not be particularly useful to the average computer user.

DKD Files Related to Sub Titans

The DKD file extension is also related to a PC game known as Submarine Titans, or Sub Titans. Sub Titans is a 3D strategy game that takes place in an underwater world. Players can play on their own or over the Internet or LAN against other players. Part of the fun involves high resolution maps.

Like karaoke DKD files, information on opening Sub Titan DKD files is also sketchy. Apparently, Sub Titan DKD files are part of a larger zipped file containing battle map files. The zipped file contains DKD and DKX files. These files should be unzipped to the game’s Custom folder, which is found in the root of the Sub Titans directory on the computer. In order to interact with these battle maps, go into Solo Games > Battles and make your selection.

Submarine Titans was developed by Ellipse Studios and published Strategy First, Inc. with a release date of July 2000. While the game is still readily available for purchase, finding active Web sites dedicated to Sub Titans has proven to be a challenge. The SubTitans domain shows up, however it is not an actual dedicated site, but rather a search portal page that appears to have a primary purpose of displaying sponsored advertising.

Neoseeker.com does have a forum dedicated to Submarine Titans located here.

It’s best to get permission from the computer’s owner before making any changes to their system or installing applications, free or not.

Why Public Computers Block Downloads

Public libraries and businesses that allow patrons and customers to use their computer systems don’t generally grant these users full rights to do as they please on their computers for several reasons. The main reasons involve security and resources. While you may be wanting to download a perfectly legitimate and helpful program such as Adobe Reader, there are so many “freebies” out there that contain harmful elements - and many casual computer users are oblivious to this fact.

The Danger of Unrestricted Downloads

Not only can these harmful programs harm the computer system (and perhaps infect the entire network), they can harm other users. For example, what if the person who used the public library’s computer before you did downloaded a free game? No big deal, right? Not necessarily. If that free game contained spyware, the spyware could secretly record all keystrokes made on that computer. Now, when you sign on, the spyware is monitoring your activities.

Still no big deal, right? Again, not necessarily. If you log on to your bank or shop online from this computer, your personal information, account numbers, and passwords will have been captured and transmitted to criminal third parties.

The Inconvenience of Unrestricted Downloads

Even benign downloads can cause public network headaches. Imagine if each user downloaded just one program to the public computer. With hundreds of patrons each month, it wouldn’t take long before the computer’s disk capacity reached its limits. In addition, since visitors aren’t privy to the computer’s specifics, they could be downloading incompatible programs which can cause computer errors or gobble up too many system resources. Further concerns involve inappropriate downloads such as porn.

How to Open Your E-mail Attachment on a Public Computer

If you do not own a computer of your own and must open an e-mail attachment, you may have options but you’ll need to work with the computer’s owner or the sender of the attachment. First, how important is the file in question? If it’s a forwarded joke or non-essential file, it’s unlikely that the computer owner will make an exception to accommodate your request. On the other hand, if the file is more critical such as a PDF loan application form that you must download and print in order to apply for a loan, the computer’s owner may be more sympathetic.

Ask to speak with the manager or media specialist at the library or business and explain what you are trying to accomplish. A workstation that has Adobe Reader (or the application that you need) on it that you can use may be available or the manager may agree that the program would be beneficial and authorize the download.  

Another option is to ask the sender to use a different method to transmit the information. For example, if someone sent you family photos but you can’t view them on the public computer, ask the sender to use an online photo hosting service and send you a link where you can view the images online. Similarly, you can ask the sender to upload documents to Scribd.com where you can view them using the iPaper format. This Web site is like YouTube for documents and offers a privacy option.

Opening .dat Files

Why JPEGs, TIFFs and PDFs change to .DAT Files

Unfortunately the problem you are having isn’t a Mac-Windows compatibility issue, but a more generic case of files being changed from image files like PDF, JPEG, and TIFF to DAT. The reasons for the change are hard to determine and are most likely happening on the receivers’ end of the exchanges. You might have to let your recipients know the file type that you are attempting to send, and then they can rename the file themselves.

How to Rename .DAT Files

On Microsoft Windows operating systems, the process to rename file extensions is quite simple:

1. Click Start to open your Start Menu
2. Select the Control Panel
3. Inside the Control Panel choose Folder Options
4. Choose View
5. From the listing that says “hide extensions for known file types”, remove the check from the corresponding box
6. Choose Apply, then OK

You can now rename the file extensions of the .DAT files to .JPEG, PDF or TIFF, depending on the contents of the file by right-clicking the file and choosing Rename. Additionally, many people extol the virtues of Notepad to open and change various file types. You can try to open the .dat files in Notepad and see if this successfully opens or alters the extension.

About Outlook Express and Winmail.dat Files

If you are sending your files in Microsoft Outlook, the issue can be a little different. In this case the files appear as winmail.dat files, which Outlook uses to send email attachments. The problem here can occur if both sender and receiver aren’t using Outlook.

As the sender, you can choose to send regular emails in plain text, without the winmail attachment. This option will allow the receiver to open the email normally, but additional font, colour and images will be lost. You can change your Outlook settings by selecting Tools, then Options, and then the Mail Format tab. Now find the listing called Send this Message Format and select Plain Text. You can also change your preferred settings for your contacts in your Outlook Address book. Select the contact’s entry, then choose File, Properties, and then remove the check from the box marked “Always Send to this Recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format.”

Opening .bin File Extensions

No, the software isn’t designed to open and few files though it does solve many common errors associated with file extensions, including the .bin extension. Below, I’ll detail options available for opening these files.

About .bin Files

Files with .bin extensions are a type of universal designation of a binary file, which refers to the numerical code that is used to create them. Unlike most other file types, .bin files are not associated with a specific program that is used to open them. Unlike a text document, such as Word or Notepad, the contents of .bin files are not text-based and look like garbage when they are opened in text-based programs. BIN files are commonly used for CD images and ROM - or read-only media files. BIN files are most useful when it comes to capturing near-exact replicas of data, such as sound, that would otherwise prove quite difficult to copy or transfer.

Verify the Contents of your .bin File

Rather than simply open the .bin file, you can take a two step approach to first check the contents of the file, and then copy it to a disk. Instead of opening on your computer, the .bin file contains a replica of an image or file type and, instead of opening it with another program, .bin files are copied to disk and then used.

Beware of Malware

Before you copy the image or file, you probably want to check the contents to make sure that it is what you expect it to be. You should also run a virus check on .bin files before loading them since they are vulnerable to hacking and often used to smuggle viruses.

Burn a Copy of the .bin File

If you want to burn the file to a disk, you can use a program like Nero and a CD/DVD burner to create a copy of the image saved to the .bin file. In order to create a burned copy of your file you need a .cue file, which usually comes with the .bin file and allows it to be read. If your .bin file doesn’t have a .cue file, or if you don’t want to burn a copy of the file, you can use an extraction program to create another file type.

Mount and Extract the .bin File Contents

You can first use a software program like IsoBuster or Daemon Tools to see the contents of your file. If it is what you were expecting and it all looks good, you can use a CD burning program to make a copy of the file. These programs will mount a virtual copy of the file contents and allow you to access it. Depending on the specific .bin file that you are trying to access the steps might vary, and you might consider seeking more technical support to address the particulars of your file. At Filetonic we recommend the remote support features offered here.

First, I am going to explain a few terms and then, I will offer some suggestions for opening the LSD file. Use the set of directions that applies to your particular type of file.

What is an LSD file?

An LSD file is a file for a saved game. Some of these files are created by RPG Maker, which names each file according to the following format: “Save01.LSD” and so on. The LSD file saves the game play at the save point for later use. When the file is opened, it allows the individual to pick up the game from the last save. It’s important for you to understand that quite often, saved game files are in zip format.

Zipped Game Files

Many saved game files sent through email are in zip format. A zip file is a single file that contains one or more compressed files. This type of file saves space and allows you to send more than one file together. Therefore, before you can get to the saved game file, you might need to unzip the initial file. Special software is needed to open a zip file.

Opening a Zip File

You can use Win Zip to open this type of file. You can purchase this utility at this link: Win Zip. Although I cannot vouch for any of these, you can also obtain free utilities for unzipping files at: Freesite.

Opening the LSD File

To open the LSD file, you need to follow certain steps. If you have completed any of the steps listed here, simply skip over to the next step. Complete each of these steps in order:

1. Download the LSD file onto your computer.
2. Unzip the file if necessary.
3. Extract the file that you have downloaded into the folder for the specific game that it belongs to. For example, “C:\Profram Files\ Name of the Game.”
4. Open and start the game.
5. From the menu, select “Return to ‘name of your game.”
6. Select the file that has the same name as the one that you downloaded from your friend. For example, “Save04.LSD” Depending on the game and its set up, you might need to select a save slot instead of the file name. For example, the slot might simply be labeled “Save slot 4.”
7. The game might appear as though it is starting from the very beginning of game play. However, you should begin to play and if all goes well, you should easily discover that the saved game play is enabled.

What are .DAT Files?

The .DAT file extension is used for storing data files. Unfortunately, this format is used by hundreds of different programs, all with their own interpretations on how to use place information inside. This means that given two different programs that create .DAT files, you can’t necessarily open the other program’s .DAT file. Rather, you need the program that created the file in question - and it’s not always obvious which program that may be.

For example, I worked for a company that used a point of sale system that generated .DAT files. These files worked fine within the point of sale system but were completely unreadable via other means.

Emailed winmail.DAT Files

Is the file you received named winmail.dat? If so, this .dat file was sent by a user who uses Microsoft Outlook. Outlook uses winmail.dat e-mail files to send the attachment along with the message’s formatting information such as fonts and colors so that the recipient sees the message text as it was intended. However, this only works if the sender and recipient are both Outlook users. The rest of us don’t get an easy-to-open attachment and a message with formatting applied; we get practically unopenable winmail.dat files.

What to Do about Opening the winmail.dat File

You have a couple of options. The first involves asking the sender to resend the message in plain text instead of the default Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format. The sender should go to Tools> Options and select the Mail Format tab. From there, the sender needs to find the Send this Message Format list and click on Plain Text. In addition, the sender can set up your contact information in his or her Outlook Personal Address book by clicking the entry for your contact information, going to File > Properties, and then clearing the check mark in the box that says, “Always Send to this Recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format.”

If you’d rather not send a bunch of instructions to the sender, the other option is to download a winmail.dat decoder. One such decoder is called WMDecode which appears to be free for a limited time or about $10 for non-expiring version. Depending on how often you receive winmail.dat files, you may want to try it out before you buy. Macintosh users can find a similar product called TNEF’s Enough.

If the Attachment is NOT a winmail.dat File

If the attachment is not a winmail.dat file and the sender says that it’s supposed to be a family photo or some other file type, try saving the file to your computer and renaming it, file extension and all. For example, if it’s a photo named familyphoto.dat, try renaming it to familyphoto.jpg. Now try opening it in your favorite image viewing program. If it’s a document file, try renaming it with the .txt format and using Notepad to try to open it. Note, Notepad sometimes successfully opens .dat files, so try it before the change, too. Renaming the .dat file and trying to open it in various programs involves some guesswork and is a bit of a stretch, but it occasionally works so it’s worth trying.

Hopefully, these tips will get that .dat attachment to open for you.