'characters in Unicode format...saving an ANSI encoded text doc

When saving a notepad (.txt) file, I'm seeing the 'Notepad' prompt saying 'C:\blah, blah, blah This file contains characters in Unicode format which will be lost if you save this file as an ANSI encoded text file' blah, blah, blah.

What Googling this didn't tell me, nor did tediously looking at every character in the file (not finding anything not on my keyboard), I went ahead and saved the file (regardless of the prompt) and still every time I tried 'control + s', clicked 'file>save' or even 'file>save as', the same prompt appeared.

I was about ready to give up, when it crossed my mind. I'd copy-pasted a 'date created' from one of my text files properties general tab. And when I re-read the saved file's characters for the pasted 'date created', I saw a "?" mark ahead of the day date ('?Monday').

I removed the darned thing and saved the document, and I think it again prompted me of that darned Unicode thing.

I re-read the pasted characters again and found yet another "?" mark, this time ahead of yet another following segment of the pasted 'date created'. After a few times of deleting the "?" mark, the file finally saved w/o the darned prompt.

I think I've run across this maybe a half dozen times over the years and finally surmised and resolved this issue, ie; Windows usually never does and even Google sometimes doesn't tell us crap like this.

I don't know what's more insulting, buying a pc w/o being afforded the $2 platform's installer CD-ROM, buying the $150 CD-ROM and finding it so badly scratched, discolored and stained w/no means to get my money back or even a replacement disc (long story but true), find so much MS 'bloat'ware (I'd use another term for it, but I don't want to be blacklisted) on my over-priced OEM machines and finding instead that MS never has enough room or time to either finish writing the program (help menu's that actually are intuitive and heaven forbid, interfaced help with hover notes (which it seems MS created out of necessity and has never followed thru on either one), but just like everything else they foist on us, MS consistently writes software w/bugs and other wise fails to either 'road test' it and/or assure it actually works out of the box.

Can you tell I'm so peeved at how exacerbating that even the simplest of things are seen in these infernal machines, and MS gets away with it. But then so did O.J.

Oh well, serves me right for ignoring the alternative (Linux, a stable platform that I'm guessing does a better job at most everything MS fails at).

Interesting, that about Linux. Had never yet read or heard anything derogatory about it, but then it has so many positives over Windows (so not much of a surprise). But thanks for the input.

As for Unicode, in that I believe Windows default Notepad files are ANSI, and in that I know little to nothing about Unicode, why anyone uses it (languages or whatever), I don't use it (much like MS doesn't use their time and our hard earned money by actually proving a 'help' and 'hover' interfacing to explain enough to make decisions about things, ie; without spending hrs, days and months of drilling MS's Knowledgebase and otherwise becoming an IT Graduate so as to make decisions about what's supposed to be the User's OS.

Again as for Unicode and it's apparent use in the details of file properties, I see 'no reasoning' (something MS is good for) for why explorer was never enabled to copy-paste intelligently, ie; paste in the format of the application or at least identify the damned issue with more that the mindless prompt that short changes Users (by not mentioning what the issue actually is associated with), eg; when's the last time 'we' actually expected Windows Event Viewer to solve anything (let alone provide useful data more than about 10% of the time).

And what's up with Windows Dr Watson reports that aren't going to what (I'm guessing) the prefetch/page file or wherever, ie; so as to actually afford users finding out what caused crash(es)?

Ubuntu makes a very user-friendly Linux distribution. Try it out for yourself.

The 10 Most Popular Linux Distributions

I keep hearing about this Ubuntu thing (hmm, this site's spell checker squalks it's spelling as I write, and the more I write, now it's not underlined in red anymore, maybe spell checker releases underlining after we mis-spell another word like I did for desirability, hmm).

The few times I spent a few seconds trying to see what it was about (after some claims of it's desirability), not sure where I got the idea, but it looked to me then as some Nigerian form of Linux, so I stayed away from it.

But interesting. Guess it deserves a closer look.

I hope the inflection that 'I was griping', wasn't so much as directed at my own flaming of MS, because I think just about everyone has issues with their software, ie; MS's software as even 'our' machines don't seem to be "our's", ie; for most Users, 'we' just essentially 'lease' and repair them at our expense.

But while it might be that not so many post about it, aside from letting off steam, it seems to do no good other than that), so I'd have hoped for a less pointed reference to 'gripes', ie; pointing out needless annoyances and clear cut short-comings seems less than 'griping' and more of pointing out the truth.