I don't know anything about coding

[Cldy_w_a_chnce_of_fuckyou]

I have a sample of code... I thought it was base64 but, like the title says, I don't know diddly squat about coding. I'm just learning myself about alternate data streams. While getting contents, this crap spilled all over my powershell - it was, in fact, the only thing that was there. The file I'm attaching is just a random snippet from a much larger spew of characters.
And while I'm on the ADS kick, if anybody has any advice, hints, tips or is available to shake their head at stupid questions (just not dismissively,) a little help could probably prevent me from going totally crazy. Just sayin'
Peace!
J

 

[ubuysa]

Those strange characters are typically what you see if you open a binary file in Notepad. A binary file doesn't contain text (encoded in ASCII) but contains binary digital data - which Notepad doesn't know how to interpret. This file might be executable program code, binary configuration data, or even a compressed backup file.

If you think the file should contain program code then it's likely this file is the executable code (generated by a compiler) rather than the source code (in text format).

 

[codingWorld]

As Ubuysa said, this is not a .txt file, format of the file saved is not correct so you are seeing binary configuration data.

 

[Bighorn]

Notepad++ can open a large number of file formats but the above-attached file still only results in machine language.

 

[HoraceC]

Yes, this file has been compiled - any excerpts from it will be meaningless.