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'Open with' -> 'Choose Program..' Opens Notepad Al

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Post #1

Hi Gurus: :)

I am running on Desktop, Win XP Professional, SP3 Ver:5.1.2600.5512

Till yesterday this option worked fine, today only i noticed that if I

Right click on any file type (e.g. MP3, DLL), Open with -> Choose Program.. Opens Notepad automatically :o

Does not allow me to choose a program as it used to before, I am using SP3 since two weeks now, but only today, this weird selection started happening. Is it that i am hacked??? :pullhair:

I did use nlite to generate an .iso for backup purposes, never used this .iso file. In this nlite I opted

Tweaks Section -> General Tab -> Explorer -> Associate additional file types with notepad (explanation - Open LST, CFG and NFO files by default).

I do not think it has any significance, but wanted to mention anything i did related to notepad association. :wacko:


So any help in this regard is greatly appreciated by me and my kids and my grand kids…. :D
Post #2 last edited
Hi and welcome to WTT forums
:welcome:

It does look suspicious that the trouble started after you used the

"Associate additional file types with notepad (explanation - Open LST, CFG and NFO files by default)."


however before getting into reg fixes it may be worth trying this as an experiment:
Close all open programs, and from a fresh restart of your machine:
select one file that erroneously now opens in notepad..hold down the Shift key whilst RIGHT clicking on the file concerned. and if you get a drop down box select "open with" and /or "Choose Program," now browse to the Programme that "should" open the File select "always open with" and OK your way out
close down and wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen and now restart your computer and see if the fix has worked (with the same file) ,, ..if it has then you will need to extend the procedure to each file type that is opening wrongly. If this works OK you will not generally need to restart each time.
If this does not work then you will need to move to the next stage so have a look here:
NOTE, please back up your Registry before doing anything at all on this ….. (Erunt is good)
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/erunt.html
and also make a System Restore Point (check that it works!…it's better to be safe than sorry!)

http://raviratlami1.blogspot.com/2006/07/w…ght-clicks.html

If you are still in trouble with this then a reg fix to re-associate all your applications will be required and you can get one from here:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm
or:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_easy_file.htm
Good luck with this
Regards
paws
Post #3 last edited
Sorry paws, I got the solution before your reply, so cannot follow you instructions to the letter, RichieUK provided to me the solution in following registry tweak and worked like a charm. Thanks again paws for your guidance, I did go to your links and downloaded ERUNT, Fileassociation list & batch files. Mods pls. close the thread.

Copy and paste ALL the following text in the Quote box below into Notepad.
Click on File(in the menu at the top)>Save as../Save as Type: 'All Files' /File name: fix.reg to your desktop.
Then double click on the fix.reg file on your desktop and agree to merge the information into the registry,then restart your pc.

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown]
"AlwaysShowExt"=""
"QueryClassStore"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell]
@="openas"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\
6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,25,00,53,\
00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,\
79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,4f,00,70,00,65,00,6e,00,41,00,\
73,00,5f,00,52,00,75,00,6e,00,44,00,4c,00,4c,00,20,00,25,00,31,00,00,00

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