files unknown format or damaged

Question

all my exe files will not open programs because they are changed to win rar files as the file association, do i have to reinstall my operating system or is there a way to fix the file association. I have email and internet access, only the program files are effected. Thanks

Answer 1

Hey Pdyches,

Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Answers community forum.

You don’t need to reinstall windows.****This is an issue related to File associations. Something must have corrupted your file associations.  

First, let's try the system file checker to try and fix any corrupted system files that may have caused this issue:

To run the System File Checker tool, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.

Right-click cmd in the Programs list, and then click Run as administrator.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue

At the command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

When the scan is complete, test to see whether the issue that you are experiencing is resolved.

If it does not fix, please try this:

To fix this you will need to change the file association for the exe files on the computer. Here is a link to the article that will give you the information on this.

This will automatically fix the .exe file associations:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950505 hope that this information heps.

I

Thanks,

Regards, Irfan H, Microsoft Answers Support Engineer. Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.