Downloads working but not opening

im using IE and my downloads used to work fine but now for some reason whenever im finished downloading a file it says "cannot open whatever file". is there some setting i need to change?

are you using the 'save' or 'open' option when you click the download link?

Looks like the download was corrupted,
Use the Download Manager.I recommend either Flashget or Orbitdownloader.
Free Download Manager is good too..Search for it here..
www.softpedia.com

dont know what happened but it suddenly started working again