The problem stems from a conflict between Office 97's graphic import filters and Microsoft Paint. So, if you have Office 97 installed, and are receiving error messages when trying to open certain types of graphics files, you might want to download the updated Microsoft Paint for NT.

You can download it right here from Microsoft's File Library (via FTP): here.

Complete the download process and then move PAINTNT.EXE into a new folder. Double-click PAINTNT.EXE file to extract its contents. Copy MSPAINT.EXE and all of the .DLL files to the \Winnt\System32 folder, and restart Windows NT. (The included README.TXT file also contains these instructions.) Your Paint troubles should now be solved.

NOTE: You may not be able to copy the Msvcrt.dll file while you are in a Windows NT session. If this is the case, boot your computer to Windows 95 or MS-DOS (boot from a floppy if necessary) and then copy the file to \winnt\system32.