I just formatted my computer and reinstalled everything. I went on to linksys site to get the firmware updates for my router and when I downloaded it it was a bin file and cant be opened. what do bin files do and what do I do with it?

BIN files are Binary files. They're not designed to be opened in anything.

With most routers you log into them and there's an option in the control panel for you to upload some new firmware; this is what the BIN file is for. Other routers you run a separate program within Windows to update the router's firmware.

bin files

*.bin
*.cue
*.iso

These file extensions are commonly used to show that a file is an image of a CD or DVD.

The most simple way to access these files is to use your CD or DVD Burner to burn them to a disk. Nero is a common program that is used to burn bin/cue files to hard media.

One really nice thing to do is to treat these files as a virtual CD or DVD without ever burning them. Daemon Tools is one program that is often used to do this. Microsoft now has a free program that does this as well.

http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/xpvirtualcd.html

SRX660