Assigning File Associations

[Chaz]

I can remember, back in the WIN 3.1 and WIN95 days that you
could right click on a file and associate that extention
with a program.

For example, most people have MP3's on their computer, and
the icon the shows up might be the Windows Media Player. Or
if I have a JPEG file, I might get the Photoshop icon.

I want to be able to change this at will. To be able to
change .jpg to some other program other that Photoshop.

I hope I explained this correctly. Thanks in advanced for
your help.

Chaz

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Right-click on a file, then select: "Open With..."

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


|I can remember, back in the WIN 3.1 and WIN95 days that you
| could right click on a file and associate that extention
| with a program.
|
| For example, most people have MP3's on their computer, and
| the icon the shows up might be the Windows Media Player. Or
| if I have a JPEG file, I might get the Photoshop icon.
|
| I want to be able to change this at will. To be able to
| change .jpg to some other program other that Photoshop.
|
| I hope I explained this correctly. Thanks in advanced for
| your help.
|
| Chaz

 

[Opinicus]

I can remember, back in the WIN 3.1 and WIN95 days that you
could right click on a file and associate that extention
with a program.

As Carey showed, you can do this in WinXP as well. However I
find a little PC Mag utility called "Context Edit" to be
very useful. It gives you complete control over your
right-click menus.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1556349,00.asp
http://tinyurl.com/4mpwt

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I can remember, back in the WIN 3.1 and WIN95 days that you
could right click on a file and associate that extention
with a program.

For example, most people have MP3's on their computer, and
the icon the shows up might be the Windows Media Player. Or
if I have a JPEG file, I might get the Photoshop icon.

I want to be able to change this at will. To be able to
change .jpg to some other program other that Photoshop.

It's almost the same in Windows XP. Right-click on a .jpg file
and choose Open With. The only difference is that in Windows 98,
you had to Ctrl-RightClick.

 

[Moe Belli]

Try OpenExpert at http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html

Not quite what you're asking for, but nifty related utility as well. When
you right click you can choose the application to launch the file in.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I can remember, back in the WIN 3.1 and WIN95 days that you
could right click on a file and associate that extention
with a program.

For example, most people have MP3's on their computer, and
the icon the shows up might be the Windows Media Player. Or
if I have a JPEG file, I might get the Photoshop icon.

I want to be able to change this at will. To be able to
change .jpg to some other program other that Photoshop.

There are two approaches. One is simple, but in effect makes a
completely new association, rather than adding it to the list available
at a right click. I don't think that is what you are after, but you do
it by a r-click - Open With, and in that do not select from the list but
take Other Program, browse to the one you want, and check the 'always
use this' box.

Other way, better when you already have programs associated, is to go to
Control Panel - Folder Options - File Types
and look down for the extension concerned. Highlight and click advanced
when you can click Add to add to the list - browsing to the program, and
adding any switches it may want. Once done, you can select which ever
action you want as for a double click in the pane of Actions, and click
Default (it will then appear in bold) - other actions will be there when
you r-click a file of the extension

There is a slight complication here with image files like JPG, which
will go on opening in the Picture Viewer on a double click - there is a
way round that if you want with a simple registry edit, deleting the
subkey
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\ShellEx\
ContextMenuHandlers\ShellImagePreview