> I decided to try something that would probably work: I copied the code from the magazine into Notepad and saved the file as .exe instead of .txt.

Exactly my first attempt to "convert to .exe" as well :) Browsing through C:\DOTS, I discovered qbasic.exe (a QuickBasic variant without a compiler) and wanted to "compile" (as I now know is the right term) my first, wonky five-liner.