LeeTutor's Doing Windows
Windows Tips Categories
Context Menu Tips
QUICKEST WAY TO ASSOCIATE FILE TYPES WITH
PROGRAMS
In a column I wrote long ago, I described how to
associate file types with the program Windows is to use
to open them. This process was a rather involved one
starting with selecting Folder Options on the View menu
of Windows Explorer, getting to the File Types tab, and
then progressing through a sequence of steps to type the
path to the program that is to be associated with a file
type. Here is a much quicker way. Suppose you have
downloaded and installed a new program for playing music
files, and it has stolen away the Windows Media Player
file association with .WAV files. You want to restore the
connection of .WAV files to Windows Media Player.
Get into Windows Explorer and locate a .WAV file, then
right click on it while simultaneously holding down the
Shift key (you don't need to hold down the Shift key if
you're using Windows ME). This will bring up a context
menu with one of the options being Open with... Select
that, and you will be presented with a list of programs
that are associated with all the various registered file
types on your system. Windows Media Player should be one
of them (if it isn't, then click on the Other button and
navigate to the folder containing WMPLAYER.EXE, which is
usually the Windows folder), select the program, click on
the check box for "Always use this program to open
this type of file" and then click on OK.
