[52corvair]

Hi all, a new member here.

 

I was wondering if anybody could assist with a question. Windows 7, Office 2010 user here. I received a corrupted WORD file sent by someone as part of a assignment for potential new-hires that couldn't be opened (was sent 3 minutes prior to the deadline). 

 

We replied right away to send a new one. And then, the supposedly same WORD file sent thereafter (6.5 hours later)  opens properly in Word 2010. The file size is different (107Kb for the corrupted one vs 118 Kbs for the uncorrupted one). 

 

I've tried various text recoveries, extractors, different word processors. And no luck. When I open the corrupted file in Notepad, there is a: 

 

"Document Microsoft Word    MSWordDoc   Word.Document.8 ô9²q"

 

at the end. That is the only 'searchable' text. From my understanding, Word 8 is a 1997-2003 Word version. 

 

 

When I open the Uncorrupted file in Notepad, there is alot more searchable text for "Word", as well as "excel" (but I cannot find any reference to the the Word version). 

 

ie. 

"word/stylesWithEffects.xmlPK"

"word/embeddings/Microsoft_Excel_Worksheet2.xlsxPK"

 

The paragraph format of the jumbled text paragraphs are notably different too. 

 

Questions: 

1) Is there any way that the corrupted Word file 'magically' messed up that bad? 

 

2) Should the 2 files in Notepad open the same way? (type of text, shape of paragraph, size of document). Or does unintended corruption result in such a stark difference in Notepad? 

 

3) Any way to tell if it was intentionally done?  

 

Property details for the corrupted file have no information. The Final one that opens does have it. 

 

I feel that this ploy was done on purpose to buy more time. Thank you in advance.