|
DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 11, 2010
Q.
I prefer to use Media Player for my MP3
files but when I installed iTunes to just
see what's new with it, it tries to take
over and open all MP3 files from then on.
How can I prevent this?
A.
Every time you click on a file, Windows
looks in the registry to see what program is
associated with that file type. This is
something that you have set up to suit your
preferences.
Yet, many
programs will "steal" or try to steal the
file associations when they are installed.
This could happen without your knowledge, or
with an obscure checkbox that is almost
always checked by default. This is
especially true for programs that play music
or display pictures.
Windows
associates the file extension, the 3 or 4
characters after the (.) in the filename,
with a given program. That is how it knows
what program to open when you double click
the file name. You can associate any
extension with any program.
1. Locate
a file that you want change the associated
program.
2. RIGHT
click on it and choose Open With, and then
click Choose Program.
3. This
will open the "Open With" dialog. Then...
4. Look
in the list for the name of the program you
want all your files the selected extension
to open with or browse to find it.. Be sure
that the program you choose can open the
type file you are associating with it.
(i.e.: An MP3 player probably won't open a
picture file.) 5. Highlight it, then click
the box in front of "Always use the selected
program to open this kind of file".
6. Click
OK, and the file will open in the program
you selected.
7. This
will change the association for all files of
this type to this program in the future.
The above
example is for Windows XP, and although this
procedure can be used for Vista and Windows
7, there is another, possibly better way. In
the Control panel is an icon labeled Default
Programs. When you open this, you are given
4 choices.
Set your default programs
Associate a file type with a program
Change
AutoPlay settings
Set
program access and computer defaults
If you
click on the first choice, Set your default
programs, you will be presented with a list
of some of the program types like the
browsers, email programs, music players,
photo handlers, etc. If your preferred
program type is listed, you can select it
and will be told if it has all the defaults
or how many of the possibly ones that it
has. You can then choose to give it all the
defaults or select which ones you want to
give it.
If you
click on the second choice, Associate a file
type with a program, a window will open and
there will be a delay as all the associated
file types are located. Then a list of all
the file extensions currently having an
association on the computer, their brief
description, and the default program
currently associated with it will be listed.
This list can be quite extensive and will
contain extensions that you have never heard
of.
What you
are looking at is a replicate of the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section of the registry in
a friendlier, safer to change format. Locate
the extension of the file type you need to
change and highlight it. Now, click the
Change program button, and the "Open with"
dialog will open and you can change the
association following the procedure in 4-7
above.
In some
cases, nothing that you change using the
above procedures may seem to work. One
example of this is the installation of a
browser like Firefox. If you are not careful
to uncheck the choice to make it your
default browser, to get IE back as the
default you will probably need to change the
program access and computer defaults.
In Vista
and Windows 7, you simply open the Control
panel, click on Default programs click on
Set program access and computer defaults. In
XP you open the control panel, and click on
Add and remove programs. In the left pane,
click on Set program access and computer
defaults.
Once this
has opened, select Custom, and click the
down arrow to its right. Now you can
probably change those difficult to change
items like browsers, Email programs. Media
players and Instant messenger program.
|
