Cannot open downloaded files using Wordpad on Windows 8

When i download a word file onto my computer and open the file using the default program Wordpad on Windows 8 i get page after page of what seems like code such as this: ÐÏࡱ For example, i tried to download and open a file which was in the presentation of a form and even though the words of the form were there they were buried under pages of this code stuff and there were no borders or boxes as there should have been - as i found out after downloading the file on a different computer and opening it up using Word 2008 on Windows 7. I have downloaded Word 2013 but cannot seem open the files using this program and cannot change the default program of opening these files from Wordpad to Word 2013 anyway.