File opening

Hello! I am new to and trying to learn 3ds Max. I have downloaded the program and all files relating to the program. I have tried to find a solution from Autodesk, but I get no answer. The problem is, when I try to open a file to start a tutorial, all I get is "file open failed". It gives me no reason why it failed to open. I uninstalled the entire program with the files and reinstalled everything, but I still get the same result "file open failed". I was told by an individual to go to the merge dialog box and select half of the objects to merge and see if the corrupted object is contained in that section. I can't even find a merge dialog box,and besides that it is not just one file that won't open. None of the files will open. All I get for every file is "file open failed. Can anyone help me with this problem? Thanks!

My program is the student version. It is Autodesk 3ds Max 2011. The files are all from the 3ds Max - tutorials - files.

Thanks! I'll try checking that when I re-install the program, but I'm quite sure I installed everything correctly before.