Q I've got a question that has intrigued me for quite a while. If I copy an EXE file (with a .exe file extension) from my PC to a USB memory stick, a message pops up to ask if I want to continue to copy, because all of its properties can't be copied - whatever that means. I've gone ahead many times and found the file runs perfectly when transferred to another PC. So, my question is: why is this question asked? It's also asked when coping Excel files, but again they seem to work fine elsewhere. Keep up the great magazine. A This is more common than you might imagine. It happens because many USB sticks are supplied pre-formatted using an older file system known as FAT32 - while Windows 10/11 run on a newer file system called NTFS. This is done because the FAT32 standard affords compatibility with the broadest possible number of devices, including with computers that aren't running Windows. So, it's both logical and sensible to use FAT32 for USB sticks that by nature tend to be passed between computers. But it does lead to a few quirks, of which this is one.
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