Hi, I hope this doesn't end up being a stupid question, like "where is the 'any' key"? ...

While trying to reinstall a program that was somehow deleted, I apparently messed up all my program file associations. Now when I try to open any program from the XP Start menu or via a desktop shortcut, the "Open with" dialog box pops up. After searching on Google, it looks to me like all the .lnk associations are missing.

I'm trying to edit the registry with the following instructions I found, but I don't understand step #1 under "To manually enter the information...". When they say "select the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subkey", what do they mean by "subkey"? I see lots of keys under the root folder, but if I'm supposed to select one of them, how do I know which one?:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/172053

One other question ...should I back up the entire HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder before trying this?

BTW, the system is clean; no viruses or spyware.

- Thanks

You know have the settings totally at how they are at default, so I would leave it like this Glad you found a solution and thanks for mentioning what it was.