You appear to be talking about three different topics.
Topic 1. "Kids have . . . dragged in a New Briefcase folder (with
two files that I'm sure don't belong there. A Notepad desktop Read Me
file and one other),into their homework folder."
Is there some reason why you do not want to delete these files? Does
the Read-Me file tell you what program it discusses?
Topic 2. "They do homework with WordPad (v 3.2?). Now, after you save
a document(has a DOC extension), then try to open it, it launches
Acrobat Reader which of course says it cannot open because file does
not begin with :/% PDF or somesuch nonsense. What gives?"
I cannot tell you how the file association got changed. However, you
can change the association so that files with the .doc extension
initiate Wordpad. Go to Start/Help and search for "file association".
There, you will find instructions. (I can't tell you exactly what the
instructions say because I don't have Win95 running.)
Topic 3. "Also, is there any way to reload this W95 Packard Bell
version with the restore floppy but not the main OS disk?"
I am unsure what you mean by "the restore floppy". When one installs
Windows, you is urged to create a Windows Startup Disk that can be
used to boot the system. This Windows Startup Disk does not contain
the files necessary to install Windows. A floppy disk holds only about
2.5 MB of data and Windows requires much more than that.
Many systems come with "recovery" CD-ROMs. They usually reformat the
harddisk and wipe out everything on it.
Also, many systems have all of the Windows setup files stored on the
harddisk, in which case one can reinstall Windows from these files.
Bill Starbuck (MVP)
