Restore File Associations

My PC has been hijacked by a program that associated itself with more than half the file types on my system. Uninstalling the malefactor didn't help. Is there a way out of this dilemma?

Steven Gerner, Chandler, Arizona

That depends on how well prepared you are. I'll offer some fixes in case you're not protected, and tell you how to prepare for the next time this happens.

You can restore individual associations pretty easily from the Open With dialog box. To get there in Windows XP, right-click a file of the associated type and select Properties, click the Change button across from 'Opens with', and then, if necessary, choose Select the program from a list. In Windows 98, Me, or 2000, Shift-right-click a file of the associated type and then select Open With (or Open With, Choose Program). Once there, select the program you want that file type to be associated with, check Always use this program to open this kind of file, and click OK.

You can restore all of your associations at one time by using a backup of the Windows Registry--though this will affect more than your associations. Just in case you haven't made a backup, Windows automatically backs up your Registry at regular intervals. For instructions on restoring your Registry, see Kirk Steers's "Fix PC Woes by Going Back in Time." Kirk's instructions for Windows Me apply to Windows XP as well.

In any case, it's best to make a separate backup of all your associations before disaster strikes. To do this, select Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate the Registry Editor's left pane to My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes. Choose Registry, Export Registry File ( File, Export in Windows XP). Name the file associations, and save it to My Documents.

If a program should happen to claim the wrong associations, simply open My Documents, double-click the associations file, and click Yes. Your associations will return to their earlier state as of the backup. Best of all, only file types that were associated with something at the time of the backup will be affected. If you've added a new file type and association since the backup, they won't change.

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