File DISASSOCIATION question

[46erjoe]

Okay, I know how to associate a file with what I want to open it with.
The problem is, that once these chosen applications are put into the
"Open With" box, they stay there.

For example, say I have mp3 files on my drive. I decide I want to
always use Winamp to open those files, and I click on the "Choose
Program" option and scan my harddrive until I find Winamp.exe and
select that. From that point on winamp opens all my mp3 files.

Now, suppose I delete all my mp3s and I don't want to have anything to
do with mp3 files forever. If I want to associate a different file,
say a .mov file with something that will open it, I see Winamp as one
of the choices. Well, I don't think I'll ever use winamp again, but it
still appears in the "Open With" choices.

How do I delete winamp (or any other app) from the list of "open with"
choices?

Thanks

 

[dev]

/46erjoe/ said:

Okay, I know how to associate a file with what I want to open it with.
The problem is, that once these chosen applications are put into the
"Open With" box, they stay there.

For example, say I have mp3 files on my drive. I decide I want to
always use Winamp to open those files, and I click on the "Choose
Program" option and scan my harddrive until I find Winamp.exe and
select that. From that point on winamp opens all my mp3 files.

Now, suppose I delete all my mp3s and I don't want to have anything to
do with mp3 files forever. If I want to associate a different file,
say a .mov file with something that will open it, I see Winamp as one
of the choices. Well, I don't think I'll ever use winamp again, but it
still appears in the "Open With" choices.

How do I delete winamp (or any other app) from the list of "open with"
choices?

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm

Click on the "O" category, and check out various OPEN WITH tips.

 

[Claymore]

Hi,

If Kelly's doesn't help try this:

Clear unwanted items in 'Open With' lists

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

When right-clicking a file you may see an option called 'Open With',
which lists few programs on you computer to open the file with. To
clear this list, or to remove the unwanted applications from the list
(for the said file-type), follow these steps.

Click Start, Run, Type in regedit

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts

Find the extension you wish to edit and click on the "+" sign to expand
OpenWithList

( In the right pane, you will see a list with the programs, like
"paint.exe", "notepad.exe" etc )

Use the File, Export option to backup the registry.

Click on the one you wish to delete and press the delete button

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

If some items may still show up in the 'Open With' listings, these may
be stored in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry key. These settings affect
all users. You can remove the entries by navigating to the particular
filetype's key setting:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xxx\OpenWithList

where xxx is the file extension.

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

Even if this is edited, Windows may still show some default 'Open With'
listings. Depending on the file type, the 'Open With' listing is
produced from the sub-keys under this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\<filetype>\

But ... you probably don't want to mess with these.