how do i open this?

sobberandclean

in an email i got a .dat file can i get some help lads cheers

Diabolus

Well its no good as a .dat it needs the file type's correct ending
You need to know what the original file was .avi, .mp3, .jpg etc...
if its a music file simply rename it to .mp3 etc...

Capt'n Midnight

Way too many programs used .DAT as extension

Simply delete the file, because you should never open a file unless you know exactly what it is.

or

You could ask the sender what it is and what file they opened it with - D'oh
If you don't know the sender see above.

or

drag + drop into notepad / write to see if the file type is listed - do NOT save the file as both apps will damage it.

Jaden

There is an issue with Outlook when sending attachments with a mail composed in RTF format. A (usually non-outlook) recipient gets an attachment called winmail.dat. This can be decoded to produce the origional attachment. Search google for WMDecode. It's an .exe file. Put it on your desktop, and drag the DAT file onto it. It should decode and drop the attachment back onto the desktop.

Capt'n Midnight

if it is winmail.dat then ask the sender to change the format to plain text.