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Converting Files on a PC

By Robert Banasik

HAVE YOU EVER gotten a file from someone that you wanted to open on your computer only to find out it was a Mac file, or a file in some other foreign format? It doesn't happen often at my business, but when it does, it can be frustrating. We end up going to another computer, trying a different application, or, God forbid, trying one of those utilities that can open anything-or so they say! If these problems sound familiar to you, have I got a surprise! I have actually found a software package that not only does what is says it can do but actually does more! Conversions Plus Version 4.0 from DataViz has proven to be just such a delightful program. I say that because I've become used to disappointments from new software packages. You know what I mean: They usually exhibit strange anomalies during installation, and generally barf, hiccup, and puke all over your hard drive before you actually get the thing installed fully. And then there is the obligatory "proofing" of the user's manual to decipher what the designers really meant for you to know. After digesting that, you actually get to use the program-and also the company's tech support for the next few hours until you have been "re-trained" in the use of your computer. This is not the case with Conversions Plus. I installed the program in a flash. In fact, I found myself looking around my windows to make sure there wasn't a wayward error lurking somewhere. There was none. Instead, all I had was a successfully installed program that didn't seem to do much. It didn't even open itself when I rebooted-or so I thought. I scratched my head and decided to bring up File Manager. Yes I know, Win95 likes Explorer, but I'm an old dog: I still like the extra features of Winfile.exe and tend to stay with it. Anyway, up comes the File Manager screen and there I sat with my insidious Mac Zip Disk. This is a scenario that I have repeated often. In fact, I think I've tried all the possible scenarios. There was the Here & Now product that could read a Mac floppy but would barf on a Syquest Cartridge. There was Transfer Pro that could look at a Mac 88MB Syquest but not at a 44MB or a 200MB. And there was the Mac 'n DOS-well, don't even ask about that! Undeterred by past frustrations and ever being a glutton for punishment, here I was again gingerly inserting strange media into a reading device just waiting to eat it up. I really didn't think I was going to get anywhere because I hadn't even opened the program yet. I was just going to make sure that it was, indeed, a Mac disk that I couldn't' read, and then try it with the new program. I was really shocked to see nothing in my File Manager window but, yes, you guessed it, files. No strange characters, no resource forks-just a list of files. Heck, I figured it must have been a PC disk. I ejected it and took it over to another PC. Wow! There was the typical window yelling about unformatted media and asking if I would like to format it. It really was a Mac disk after all! Conversions Plus is a truly remarkable program for this day and age of conflicting everything. My "Tower of Babel" computer can now read just about anything. I've since tried floppies, other Zip disks, and even a 200MB Mac Syquest! CP read all of them without a flinch. I actually think I shed a tear or two from the sheer joy of first-time success at anything involving a computer. As far as I'm concerned, this was plenty of magic for one program. But as I promised, this one does more. If you have image files you're not quite sure of, Conversions Plus can open them. It won't allow you to open a CorelDraw! File with Quark, but it will open most any standard raster image such as .bmp, .jpg, .tif, or .wmf. And it can even open e-mail attachments that appear as garbage text at the end of your messages, and can decompress any archived file such as .ZIP, and view and print files when you don't have the program that created them. Folks, this file conversion program is a real keeper. Version 4.0, which I reviewed here, is already outdated. Go figure. The new Conversion Plus version 4.5 is similar, but in addition to Win95 and WinNT compatibility, it is now Win 98 compatible as well. Also the new version offers compatibility for the Office98 Suite for Mac and a handy new Name Doctor feature that fixes illegal characters when converting from one format to another. Oh, did I mention that this program can also format Mac media and convert PC to Mac as well? I could go on, but you get the idea. I liked it-alot. Street price is around $99, a great value! Check out the DataViz Website at www.dataviz.com.