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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 16, 2006
Q.
I installed a program that causes my
pictures to open in the wrong program when I
double click on the file name. I want them
to open in the same program they used to
open in. How do I change this back?
A.
Many program will "steal" file associations
when they are installed. This could happen
without your knowledge, or with an obscure
checkbox that is 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. Here's how.
1. Open
My Computer, select the C drive, and find a
file with the extension you want to change.
You can also use the search feature to find
a program. Just enter *.xxx where xxx is the
file extension you are looking for.
2. RIGHT
click on it and choose Open With, 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. 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.
Now, if the
program is not listed in the Open With
dialog list, then click the Browse button
and look for the .exe file that launches the
program desired. Then proceed from step 5
above.
Q.
I keep running into something called
PDF. What is it, what does it do and
should I use it and if so how?
A.
Adobe describes it like this.
"Invented by Adobe Systems and perfected
over 15 years, Adobe Portable Document
Format (PDF) lets you capture and view
robust information — from any
application, on any computer system —
and share it with anyone around the
world. Individuals, businesses, and
government agencies everywhere trust and
rely on Adobe® PDF to communicate their
ideas and vision"
A PDF
file is created using a program like
Adobe's Acrobat which comes in several
versions, the most common being 7.0
Standard, and cost about $300. However,
most people do not have a need to create
the PDF file very often, but do need to
view them quite frequently. All that is
needed to view them is the Adobe Reader.
For
those that want a free way to create PDF
files, there is one that I have tried
out and found to be quite good with
formatted text and graphics. It uses two
different files that are in free to
download. Click
HERE
to visit a web site where you can
download a free program called "CutePDF
Writer". There is also a link on that
page to download what they refer to as a
Free Converter. This is actually a fee
program called GhostScript.
CutePDF Writer installs like a printer,
and all that is necessary to use it is
to select a printer like any other one,
and your document will be converted to a
PDF file. It also installs a readme file
in the start menu with detailed
instructions should you run into a
problem.
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