What is a Corrupted File?
Corrupted files are computer files that suddenly become inoperable or unusable. There are several reasons why a file may become corrupted. In some cases, it is possible to recover and fix the corrupted file, while at other times it may be necessary to delete the file and replace it with an earlier saved version. A corrupted file may occur due to a defect or bug in the software used to create and manipulate the file in question. Often, this is a temporary problem that will occur once, then disappear forever. At other times, the bug may be the result of an infiltration by a virus or other foreign software that disrupts the function of the program. When the user attempts to open the corrupted file, the system may lock up or provide a message identifying a problem with the file. When a corrupted file occurs, the first line of defense is to make use of system tools to attempt to fix the problem. If the corruption occurred due to a temporary glitch in the operating system, this will often fi
Corruption in a document can come from a number of sources and can strike without much warning. Usually, the first indication most people see is an error message about a “Bad Record Index” (BRI) or something similar. Sometimes a file will not even open. Causes can range from a bad font to a corrupted style or text block to an incorrect graphic link. This is hardly unique to PageMaker. Any software package Word, Excel, or QuarkXPress can write corrupted files, as well, and the older the program, the more likely an obscure bit of legacy code could cause a problem. (Of course, the older the program, the more the code has been optimized to prevent this!) One of the projected advantages of Adobe InDesign is its resistance to file corruption problems similar to PageMaker’s, but it is far too soon to say if that is true. The header information and the internal structure of a file are like the table of contents and index of a book: without them, it would be nearly impossible for the software t
