Windows users can open Mac’s SIT files.

Question: Is there a program that will allow PC users to unstuff a SIT file created on a Mac? Your help would be appreciated since I have friends and co-workers who often send me files like that and I can’t open them. I have WinZip and Conversions Plus installed, and neither work for SIT files. –D.K.

Answer: It turns out there is a program that will help you. It’s called Expander 2.0 and it’s by Aladdin Systems. Aladdin is the same company that teamed up with StuffIt (or SIT file) inventor Raymond Lau and helped him develop the compression standard for the Mac in 1988. He was 15 at the time and Aladdin was a brand new company.

I pointed D.K. to Aladdin’s Expander download page and said: “This is what you want. Try it out and let me know whether or not you like it.”

D.K. came back with this report: “I installed Aladdin Expander 2.0, and once operating, it worked like a charm. The files that had been sent as SIT files were easily expanded. AE 2.0 works in the background — just click on the file you want to open and it automatically unpacks and appears as an opened file, ready to be launched by the appropriate program.”

There was a minor glitch, though: “I did experience a little difficulty installing AE 2.0, but that may have been my computer,” D.K. said. “I left my browser on when I clicked on the installer. Everything slowed down for a while. The installer either quit or went into hibernation. I closed everything down and installed again. This time it worked fine.”

“It’s probably good enough to pay for,” he added. No need to, though — Expander 2.0 is free to download and use.