What is an Associated program?

Question

I have Windows Vista Home Premium and have just installed it. In checking my mails, there are some I cannot open because I get a window that says: "This file does not have an associated program to perform this action. Create an association in the control panel" I went to control panel and looked in associated programs and I get about 13 different ones, I don't know what I have to create to be able to read the mails.   As it is obvious, I'm not very technically skilled and I'm afraid to change something incorrectly. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Answer 1

Hello Angeles, welcome.

An associated program is basically the default program that pops up when you open a file. For instance, notepad would be the associated (or default) program that opens when you open a text file.

What exactly are you trying to open? Is it an attachment? If so, is it like a word document, a picture?

Answer 2

I believe it's not the emails themselves you are unable to open but the attachments in it?

If so:

• Right click an attachment you are unable to open and save it to your hard drive at a location where you are able to locate it afterwards.
• Locate the file/attachment you saved and right-click it and select the option "Open with"
• A new window should appear and there should be an option at the bottom find a compatible program on the web.

You may also do a search for the file extension on the web to find which software relates to this specific file type.

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