Downloads appear as exe files

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I'm thinking this sounds wierd but it's true. When I download to save a file to my desktop I have noticed that the files appear as .exe files, associated to Microsoft Excel.

Before people think i'm talking about windows, this is happening on OSX 10.4.9 (may have happened earlier with 10.4.8 but not entirely sure of the timing here).

I've noticed it affects .DMG and .WMV files. Downloading PDF files off the web are fine (seperate note or personal hijack if you will :spook: , sometimes PDF's open with Acrobat Reader, most of the time with Preview ???) I've checked the info of the file and have noticed that the file size changes if I try to download the file again, after deleting the first one.

i'm stumped here, this wasn't happening before and can't figure out what change i've made. I'm a 3 month old convert to Mac, so maybe this is a simple fix, but i've scoured Google and tried different searches on here and came up empty handed.

Can anyone help? :(
 
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Just to verify the facts: you go to a web site, download a Mac application file that has the extension .dmg on the web site, and when it is done, it shows up on your Mac desktop with the extension .exe? I have never heard of such a thing happening before. Does this happen to ALL .dmg files or just .dmg files from particular web sites?
 
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I was trying to download SuperDuper from their website and noticed it then. Other times with clips that were wmv files same thing. I just tried downloading Acrobat Reader, it worked but not as the file it was supposed to be named it saved itself as 8bk9dfn6.dmg and changes the name each time. I opened it and it mounted fine. So it doesn't seem to be on all websites. I noticed a difference though that when the issue rears it's ugly head I only get the option to save to disk and am not shown the option to open the file (again note the Acrobat download was flawless other than the wierd name)

I'm running Firefox 2.0.0.2 as an FYI.
 
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Well, a file is not going to up and change its extension in mid-download.
Again, to clarify, the files definitely have the .exe extension on them when you do a "Get Info"?

Or... do they have something like .bin, .hqx, .rar or something else?
The reason I ask, is that sometimes compressed files or images need to be first expanded with Stuffit. If you don't have Stuffit installed, it will give the file an icon and associate the file with a seemingly random MS Office app if you have MS Office on your machine anywhere. That would give someone the impression that the file is an .exe when it obviously isn't.

I would suggest that you go to www.stuffit.com and download the free expander first, even if you already have it installed... download and install it again.
Once that is installed, then try your other downloads again and let us know how that goes.
 
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Excellent advice D3v1L80Y (boy I have trouble typing that name! :dive:).

Virtual rep, since the system won't let me give you any more real rep until I spread some more around.
 
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Well, a file is not going to up and change its extension in mid-download.
Again, to clarify, the files definitely have the .exe extension on them when you do a "Get Info"?

Or... do they have something like .bin, .hqx, .rar or something else?
The reason I ask, is that sometimes compressed files or images need to be first expanded with Stuffit. If you don't have Stuffit installed, it will give the file an icon and associate the file with a seemingly random MS Office app if you have MS Office on your machine anywhere. That would give someone the impression that the file is an .exe when it obviously isn't.

I would suggest that you go to www.stuffit.com and download the free expander first, even if you already have it installed... download and install it again.
Once that is installed, then try your other downloads again and let us know how that goes.

It's an EXE confirmed when checking Get Info. I already have Stuffit installed on the machine and MS Office. The page I am on is http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html and the link I am clicking on to download the trial is on the right side of the page. When I click on it, a window pops up in Firefox saying Opening SuperDuper!.dmg and the window dialogue says You have chosen to open SuperDuper!.dmg which is a binary file from http://homepage.mac.com
Would you like to save this file? choices are cancel or save file. I know pretty basic stuff but i'm trying to give you everything. When I click save it just saves to the desktop, does not show me the download box at all.
 
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Just a thought: have you tried another internet browser like Camino or Safari?
 
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Good call. Just tried it with Safari and it worked flawlessly. I guess that isolates it a bit. I'm going to read up on this version of Firefox and continue to try Safari when I see these problems come up.
 
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MacHeadCase

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Glad it worked.

I have heard there were quite a few problems with Firefox nowadays. They released a newer version today, I think.
 
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Inspired suggestion MHC! Virtual rep - the system won't let me give you any real rep right now!
 

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