Open With list

[Barry]

My global "Open With" list, i.e. the one displayed for unknown file extensions,
has some duplicate entries (specifically Open Office and Thunderbird). How can I
get rid of them?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Barry,

Are you referring to the Open-with Menu, or Open-with dialog?

Dialog
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/art/fa_openwith_xp.jpg

Sub-menu:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/openwith2.jpg


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


My global "Open With" list, i.e. the one displayed for unknown file
extensions,
has some duplicate entries (specifically Open Office and Thunderbird). How
can I
get rid of them?

 

[Barry]

Are you referring to the Open-with Menu, or Open-with dialog?

The dialog.

Neat screenshots ;-)

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Barry,

For the dialog, the entries come from the following registry locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

See if you can remove the duplicate entries using the Registry Editor
(regedit.exe)

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT:
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

Microsoft Windows XP - Registry Editor overview:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/regedit_overview.mspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Are you referring to the Open-with Menu, or Open-with dialog?

The dialog.

Neat screenshots ;-)

 

[Barry]

For the dialog, the entries come from the following registry locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

Thanks - I found one of the duplicates (Thunderbird was listed under both its
full path and MSDOS path). Open Office is still listed twice - any ideas?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Open Office is still listed twice - any ideas?

Perhaps you're having different versions of Open Office, with different
executable names ?

For example:

openoffice1.exe
openoffice.exe

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

For the dialog, the entries come from the following registry locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

Thanks - I found one of the duplicates (Thunderbird was listed under both
its
full path and MSDOS path). Open Office is still listed twice - any ideas?

 

[Barry]

Perhaps you're having different versions of Open Office, with different
executable names ?

For example:

openoffice1.exe
openoffice.exe

Nope - only 1

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Checked in both these locations?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Perhaps you're having different versions of Open Office, with different
executable names ?

For example:

openoffice1.exe
openoffice.exe

Nope - only 1

 

[Barry]

Checked in both these locations?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

yes

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

If this is happening for a particular file-type, then generate a file
extension log using this tool here.

FileExtInfo - View the association settings for a file type easily:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/fileextinfo.htm

Post the log file here.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Checked in both these locations?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\<APP.EXE>

yes

 

[Barry]

If this is happening for a particular file-type, then generate a file
extension log using this tool here.

Only happens with file types where OpenOffice is not registered as a handler.

P.S. Nice tool