LKBEN10759: Howto get the personal favorite program back in charge (Windows XP vs. Vista)?
Symptom
File extensions have been altered to another application after installation
Cause
Installation routines often make their application to default program for associated file extensions
Solution
Probably everybody knows this:
you douple click a shareware picture viewer or mpeg-player and afterwards this application always starts upon doubleclick, not the personal favorite-application...
This is caused by alteration of the extension definition in Windows registry (HKey_Classes_Root). There are basically two ways to get your standard back (without messing in the registry):
- define the default application for a certain extension (works fine, if only one or few exensions are involved)
- use repair or installation routines of favorite application.
however, this has been made a lot better in Vista. Under Control Panel, you find "Default Programs" (or the appropriate translation, in german it`s "Standardprogramme"). This let's you define every application per extension (as known from former Windows versions via Windows Explorer, Extras, Folderoptions -> Filetypes) or define an application according to it`s settings (like for example every extension used by internet browsers).
Disclaimer:
The information provided in this document is intended for your information only. Lubby makes no claims to the validity of this information. Use of this information is at own risk!About the Author
Author: - Keskon GmbH & Co. KG
Wim Peeters is electronics engineer with an additional master in IT and over 30 years of experience, including time spent in support, development, consulting, training and database administration. Wim has worked with SQL Server since version 6.5. He has developed in C/C++, Java and C# on Windows and Linux. He writes knowledge base articles to solve IT problems and publishes them on the Lubby Knowledge Platform.