XP - How do I change the selections in 'Open With'

[Grampa Bob]

How do I add or remove items in the right click 'open with' feature? There
are selections there I seldom use, and some missing that I use all the time,
like Photoshop CS2? - Thanks for your help - GB

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

GB,

To hide / show an application entry from the Open-with list, read below:

From MSDN Library - Creating a File Association:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...sics_extending/fileassociations/fileassoc.asp

Quote:

Excluding an Application from the Open With Dialog Box

The applications that are listed in the Open With dialog box are registered
as subkeys of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications . However, many applications
should not be used to open files that are not members of their associated
file class. To exclude an application from the Open With dialog box, add a
NoOpenWith REG_SZ value name to the application's subkey. For example, the
following sample registry entry excludes MyProgram.exe from the Open With
dialog box.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Applications
MyProgram.exe
NoOpenWith

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Grampa Bob.

(I'm a Grampa, too, and my first name is Robert, so...am I talking to
myself? <g> )

A couple of ways to change Open With both involve Folder Options. The
simplest, I guess, is just to right-click on the item you want to open.
Then, on the context menu, hover over Open With, then on the "fly-out" menu,
click the bottom line, "Choose program...". This should open the Folder
Options | Open With screen, from which you can choose the program you want
to use. Note that you can Browse... if your choice is not shown. Also, you
can check the "Always use..." box so that you don't have to go through this
process each time you want to open this kind of file.

The other way to get there is to click Start | Control Panel | Folder
Options, then the File Types tab. Click the extension that you want to
change. In the lower part of this screen, you can click Change to get to
the same Open With box as above. Or click Advanced to get some more
technical customization tools.

RC