Notepad is involved on all Windows systems and have the peculiarity to read/write Unicode languages (ANSI,Unicode , utf-8).
if you open an unicode or utf-8 txt file from vfp native editor you have "???????".

simple vfp command line syntax

run/n notepad &(your txt based file)

if you want t dont alter original txt file use a temp txt file (can be modified but original file is always safe).