Karl:

As Joseph says, this probably is the wrong newsgroup, but the solution is
straightfoward.  I'm not sure which version of Windows you have and,
therefore, whether the following will work for you.  But in Windows XP,
you'd follow these steps:

1.    Open Windows Explorer.
2.    In Explorer, open the Tools menu and select Options.
3.    In the Options dialog, click the File Types tab (at the top).
4.    Scroll down and select the row with DOC in the extensions column.
5.    Click the Change button.
6.    Select the program (Microsoft Word) you want to open files ending in
DOC.
7.    Files ending in DOT should also be opened with Microsoft Word.

If you see an ellipsis (three dots like this ...) after an extension (in the
extensions column), then you need to make the Extensions column wider.  Then
you will see the extensions in full. (You can make the column wider by
dragging the vertical bar on the right side of the column heading.)

Regards
Geoff