Files opened with wrong program.

Question

I wanted to run a certain file with a program(open with....)but when I did, all of the programs were chosen to run with that certain program..How do I change them back to running with their original program if I dont know what it was.And I am Assuming it did it only to .lnk files as of now.

Answer 1

Hi,

These should help - which is depending on the details of the problem - and you may

need to use more than one.

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Basically you need to restore the default File Associations.

When you double-click an .EXE file, the program may not launch, instead it may open in Notepad

(displaying the .exe contents), or may launch in any other application.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/exeasso.htm

When you run an .exe file on a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer, the file may

start a different program

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950505

Restore the .exe file association in Windows Vista, after incorrectly associating it with another application

http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/Restore-the-exe-file-association-in-Windows-Vista-after-incorrectly-associating-it-with-another-application.html

Restore Default Windows 7 File Extension Type Associations

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

How to Set Default Associations for a Program in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2630-default-programs-set-programs-default-associations.html

How to Unassociate a File Extension Type in Vista and a utility to help (Windows 7 too)

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/91920-unassociate-file-extention-type.html

How to Change the Default Program a File Type Opens With in Windows 7 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12196-open-change-default-program.html

How to Associate a File Type or Protocol Default Program in Window 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9154-default-programs-associate-file-type-protocol.htmlhttp://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69758-default-programs.html

How to Hide or Show Known File Type Extensions in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10570-file-extensions-hide-show.html#post101629

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

It is a little hard to give you a good answer when you do not tell us what the extension of the "certain file" is and if you do not know yourself what program you used to use to open such files. The universal answer would be to perform a System Restore to set Windows back to a point before you made the unknown changes.