We regularly get questions from people on something that might have gone awry on their system. Lately, we were contacted because an individual could no longer get Adobe Acrobat to open PDF files. Instead, their version of Microsoft Word was trying to open them without luck. Other people find that the way they always viewed certain movie formats gets changed somehow. The good part is that no matter how it happened, it is easy to fix.

Let's look at the first method. It's quite simple.
Method 1:
1. Go to My Documents or wherever you have a file of the type that is causing the problems.
2. Right-click on it.
3. Choosen OPEN WITH (not just Open).
4. An Open With dialog box opens.
5. Click on Choose Program - even if the program you want is displayed on the list in front of you.
6. Locate the program that you want to open the file in future on the list that shows up in the Open With dialog box.
7. Once you see it, click on it and then, look carefully at the bottom of the list, just outside the list of programs, where you'll see a little check box that says Always use the selected program to open a file of this type. Make sure you check the little box and then click OK.

From now on, the program you have selected will open a file of that type.

Method 2: Not so simple
Actually, if you have much experience with working with your operating system, this is still fairly simple. You can find a movie that will walk you through the steps through this link.

Essentially, we're going to go to the Control Panel and use the folder options to fix the problem.

1. Click on Start > Control Panel.
2. Double-click on Folder Options.
3. Click on the File Types tab.
4. Look at the list of registered file extensions and locate the one you're having the problems with by using the scroll box to move down the list.
5. Click once on the file type to select it once you see it in the list.
6. At the bottom of the box, you'll see a discussion on the file type and which program is associated with it to handle the file type.
7. Click on the Advanced button to change the program that will open this file.
8. Click Edit in the Edit File Type dialog box that appears.
9. Click Browse and locate the program that you want to use in future to open the file.
10. Once the correct program is identified, just click OK to keep backing out of the process and saving your changes.
11. Test to make sure it works.