When I open PhpED I get a dialogue box pointing out a 'character translation error' in a file. Strangely it's about a shortcut to Firefox residing in the folder

C:\Documents and Settings\.....\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

What is PhpED reading files for in that folder at startup? (The file doesn't contain a virus, if that''s of any help)

When you start phped, it will try to open all the files you had opened when you worked with it last time.
If you worked with FireFox link, phped will try to load it again. Just cancel and don't open that file anymore, it's a binary and text editors have nothing to do with it.

bells were just ringing.. I might possibly have accidentally dragged it from the taskbar to PhpED although I can't remember that happening or ever getting the error message before closing PhpED

Sounds the only plausible explanation though

cheers for clearing that up dmitri