All Application File Associations Changed to Internet Explorer

I worked today on a computer on which all application file associations had been changed to Internet Explorer. I guess this was a virus like the one described here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...le-may-start-a.



On top of that also the option to run an app as administrator had been removed (and I could not restore it) so that it also was not possible to run regedit as administrator.


I ended up creating a new user and move all user data - including the mail and contact folders - to this new user. In this new user everything works fine (as did also in another, old and obsolete user that was already on the computer).


I'm wondering whether I could have done something different. Would there have been a different way to fix this?

The way you fixed it was the easiest way to fix it.

You might also do a virus scan, just to make sure that there isn't any malware on your computer. I'm not saying there is malware, this is just a precaution.

Neither Avast nor Malwarebytes found anything bad on the computer - which I found quite strange.


Is it in general possible that such a "re-association" happens on its own?

It is likely that somehow your profile got corrupted. That's the best explanation I can offer. Sometimes you just don't know why things happen. And yes, I do think it's possible that this caused your file associations to change.

The easiest way by far to fix a corrupted profile is simply to create a new profile (i.e. a new user account), and then start using that new profile. No need to figure out anything when you do it that way.