Removing unwanted file associations

[Rojo Habe]

In previous versions of Windows, if you accidentally associated a file type
with a particular program it was relatively easy to fix, by going into the
File Types dialog and deleting the offending article.

I cannot find any way of doing this in Vista. I finally found what passes
for a File Types dialog, somewhere in the control panel, but in true
Microsoft Windows-for-idiots fashion, they've completely dumbed it down.
The Advanced button is gone, so no DDE options, no right-click menu options.
Not that I need to worry about any of that in this instance. I'd just like
to see an 'Opens with... None' option, or some way to remove the entry
altogether.

Is there no way around this, short of editing the registry directly? I'm
prepared to do this, if someone can tell me where to look. I just want .cfg
files to have no association, as per default. Currently they're associated
with Notepad, which I don't want, as not all .cfg files are text files.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Rojo,

You're correct, they dumbed it down and removed the ability to edit file
associations via an interface, and directly editing the registry is now the
only option. Have you looked at:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.cfg

Yet? As there should be nothing in this key except a default string with "no
value" set. If there are subkeys, they likely contain the unwanted
association.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Rojo Habe]

Thanks, Rick

What I had done was search the registry for '.cfg', looking for references
to notepad.exe, and found none. I decided to ask here for advice before
delving any deeper and potentially causing damage.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.cfg didn't have any subkeys but the Default string was
set to 'cfg_auto_file', which I've now deleted. This seems to have done the
trick. I had to reboot to refresh the icons but all now appears to be OK.

Thanks again.