>If you open the file in Visual FoxPro I think (maybe) Visual FoxPro will modify the header of the file to indicate its a Visual FoxPro file and now FP26 doesnt recognize the header anymore. See "Table Header Record Structure" for more on this in the Help.

VFP doesn't do it by default, you must be sure to Don't say yes to the nasty Window asking for change codepages. When I use DBFs no-property of VFP, I alway SET CPDIALOG OFF