The system in question is running Win NT 2000.
The Situation: I was attempting to find a file by
searching for text located in the file. my ntuser.dat file
contained the text I was looking for, so I opened it with
notepad. I forgot to uncheck the "always open with this
program" box so now my .dat files are associated with
notepad.
My question: Can anyone tell me if this will cause
problems or if there is a way to dis-associate the program
and file from each other?

No, but you should really edit these with the Windows Registry Editor, i.e. "regedit.exe" or "regedt32.exe

Patrick Rous
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Serve
http://www.workthin.co

----- Jonny J wrote: ----

The system in question is running Win NT 2000
The Situation: I was attempting to find a file by
searching for text located in the file. my ntuser.dat file
contained the text I was looking for, so I opened it with
notepad. I forgot to uncheck the "always open with this
program" box so now my .dat files are associated with
notepad
My question: Can anyone tell me if this will cause
problems or if there is a way to dis-associate the program
and file from each other

--------------------
>From: "Jonny J" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>Subject: .DAT file question
>Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:50:41 -0800
>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.termserv.clients
>
>The system in question is running Win NT 2000.
>The Situation: I was attempting to find a file by
>searching for text located in the file. my ntuser.dat file
>contained the text I was looking for, so I opened it with
>notepad. I forgot to uncheck the "always open with this
>program" box so now my .dat files are associated with
>notepad.
>My question: Can anyone tell me if this will cause
>problems or if there is a way to dis-associate the program
>and file from each other?
---

Jonny,

Patrick is correct that the association should not cause an issue but if you want to remove the association to be sure open
My Computer, go to Folder Options on the Tools menu, go to the File Types tab and then look to see if DAT is listed under
the Extensions colume. If it is highlight it and delete it.

You could also run Regedit and check the Default valule of the key below

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.dat

If it is set to anything other than (value not set) you want to modify the value and clear it, leaving it blank.

Bill Peele
Microsoft Enterprise Support

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