Can somebody help me understand this dialog window?

Question

I have an English CS3 but my native language is Dutch. I struggle understanding this dialog box:
Your current color settings honor CMYK profiles in linked content but profiles were set to be ignored when this document was created
I often get this error when opening downloaded files.
What linked content? Which profiles are ignored. Is this a vital warning?
Thanks,
Ronald

Answer 1

Most imporant: set up color management. Synchronize color management across your applications and versions.
If you don't know how to do that, you're in really serious trouble. There's some literature on the topic. Get it and read it. You might start with this:
Adobe publishes a new Creative Suite 5/5.5 Printing Guide - Rufus Deuchler
and the manual. Look for a Lynda.com training or search the web for resources. There's some really good stuff available in German, but I don't know about the English resources (beacause our own are so luxurious).
The dialog box tells you that your settings regarding linked CMYK images were different in your other Illustrator version. You had it set to "Preserve embedded profiles", but now you've set it to "Preserve numbers". Depending on the nature of your files, your workflow, your co-workers' workflows or the printing process both settings might or might not be correct. But most probably changing the settings in the middle of working at the same file is not correct. The setting influences how colors are converted when creating the final output. So, yes, it is important.