default program disassociation

[spareafagmate]

i have a accidently set notepad as the recommended default program of a certain file type (.bn11). vista will not allow me to remove notepad from the list to leave it blank.

how do i overcome this?

thanks in advance

 

[lone.gunman]

Select the file in explorer, right click properties, on the general tab where it says file type select change, that should let you sort it out...

 

[spareafagmate]

yeah that's my problem it will not allow me to remove the recommended program (notepad) that is there, i dont want to change to any other program yet this is the only option it will offer me

 

[lone.gunman]

Ahhh I c...you want to un-associate it...sorry..not awake yet..lol
Hmm...just tried it myself & it won't let me either...You tried in safe mode?

 

[showders]

could you not just change the extension to something random for now?

 

[spareafagmate]

tried it in safe mode, doesn't work. changing the ext has no effect

 

[lone.gunman]

Had a quick snoop about found this m8: HERE
Looks like it'll do waht your after..

The guys writes:

The utility discussed in this article helps you unassociate a file type quickly in your Windows Vista computer. Windows Vista does not provide a GUI option to unassociate file types. That's the reason I wrote this simple tool.

Ahaha...thats why we can't find how to un do it then roud:roud:

 

[spareafagmate]

gunman, u are a giant amongst men

thank u

 

[spareafagmate]

AAAHH! it still doesn't work!

 

[lone.gunman]

Oh bu@@er!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL...I thought I'd sussed that one....

 

[spareafagmate]

yeah me'n all. if u cme up with anything, let me know

 

[shooiethemug]

Don't have vista but have a couple of thoughts.

System restore? Back to before you wrongly associated the file....

or

uninstall notepad, click on the file and select the correct program, then re-install notepad

 

[spareafagmate]

yeah the first thing i thought of was system restore but i had no reset date to fall back on (serves me right). i have considered uninstalling notepad but i wasnt sure if it was going to affect any of my other programs and applications.

 

[shooiethemug]

From looking it seems that it's not easy to uninstall notepad and windows will keep re-installing it anyway. Does right clicking on the file and selecting "open with" work in vista as in xp? If not I've found this advice elsewhere. Involves editing the registry with it's associated risks so back it up first (system restore?)

Windows Vista has many minor annoying issues. One of them is that Files Association mechanism doesn't let you simply remove an association, you can only replace an application with another one; anyway there is a trick.

Remove all entries under the following Registry Key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.dll\OpenWithList". That's all...no more associations for your file extension.

Think it will remove all your associations but should simply be a case of re-setting them.

I've never done this so don't know if it works

 

[spareafagmate]

hmm, wouldnt have thought of that one. sounds risky but i dont see why it shouldnt work. at work now so i'll try it when i get home tomorrow.

cheers shoo, will keep u posted

 

[spareafagmate]

didnt work shoo

 

[Priesy]

Found this if it's any use http://ask-leo.com/where_did_file_associations_go_in_windows_vista.html

 

[spareafagmate]

no luck. i checked out the file association fixes but none were for .bn11

 

[shooiethemug]

didnt work shoo

Damn, thought we were onto something. That's me out of ideas m8.

You did try the old right click and open with option, didn't you. It works in XP, you select the "choose program" option at the bottom of the list and it allows you to associate another program with the file.

 

[Priesy]

Here's something to try
Click Start, type regedit.exe and press Enter.
Navigate to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileExts\[extention here]

Delete the sub-key named "UserChoice"

Close Regedit.exe