Good or bad to replace Notepad in windows 7?

[Beatnik]

As a LONG time XP user I replaced Notepad with Notepad++ and was VERY pleased with the result as IMO Notepad should be more like Notepad++ in the first place. My question is first should I try to Replace it as i did with Windows XP? Secondly If this is an ok thing to do (will not harm anything). HOW do i do it? same as the how to's online about doing it with vista? Requires 4 file Replacements? TIA also does anyone have an opinion on possibly an different app for the replacement?

 

[Barman58]

AFAIK Notepad++ is fully compatible with win7 so you should be able to use it out of the box.

As for the steps you mention for replacing notepad, if you can post a link to the instructions you have for Vista It should be possible to check them out and advise further

 

[stormy13]

No need to do the replacing manually, the latest version installs inself,

Notepad++ | Download Notepad++ software for free at SourceForge.net

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

What a load of horse hooey, Notepad++ is saving the planet. :roflmao:

 

[whs]

What a load of horse hooey, Notepad++ is saving the planet. :roflmao:


View attachment 78067

What else will they use as a fake argument.

 

[Barman58]

What a load of horse hooey, Notepad++ is saving the planet. :roflmao:


View attachment 78067

What else will they use as a fake argument.

How about painting it white and adding the "right" logo

 

[mitchell65]

What a load of horse hooey, Notepad++ is saving the planet. :roflmao:


View attachment 78067

What else will they use as a fake argument.

How about painting it white and adding the "right" logo

Or getting it to make tea from recycled tea bags

 

[Beatnik]

From the poll results most people voted for me to use it as a separate application I am OK with that although how can i associate ALL text type Files Even configuration files for programming to Notepad++, I thought it would be easier to replace notepad than to do this.

Now for how i was planning on replacing it I found several tutorials online how to do it on windows seven.
The links are below:

• How To Replace Notepad in Windows 7 - How-To Geek
• Replace Notepad in Windows 7
• How do I replace Notepad in Windows 7? - Super User

I was thinking i would follow the first link as i have used tutorials from that site and they have all worked as far as I remember.

So with this new information should i still go with the consensus of the poll and not replace notepad? or should I do it instead of the file association?

Now if I dont replace notepad how do i set the file associations? Can someone help me with a batch file? If someone who knows how to make the file i can add the extensions i want to associate although IDK how to make the batch file part that is most important, setting it up for file associations. Is this even possible with a batch file or some script to do it all in one swoop?

Currently I am leaning towards replacing notepad as i did this with XP and it was great and i used it that way for several years. So if you care Convince me with what you would do in my situation. Personally I think notepad should be much more like Notepad++ already I know its not an integral part of Windows but still it hasn't changed AFAIK since windows 95 (15 years of non development?) I know its not a priority but wordpad isn't really a better option either so .....

Thanks for your comments guys!

Also thanks for letting me know that using notepad++ is saving the environment now i feel so warm and fuzzy when i use it. ROMALOL

OHHH MAN its not much of an issue bnut i meant NOTEPAD 2 not NOTEPAD++ because Notepad 2 has a 64 bit version (LOL I think i am going to need 64 bit text editing LOL)

 

[logicearth]

You right click on a file and use Open with...that is how you associate files. You will have problems when a update like SP1 comes around and updates notepad.

 

[DarkStar GT]

^^^^
Are you aware of any specific problems? I guess I'll maybe need to redo the file association, but will there be others?

 

[logicearth]

^^^^
Are you aware of any specific problems?

No, I've not replaced any system files on my machines. However, that doesn't mean there won't be. For me there is no point is mucking with system files when I only need to change file associations. Some applications make it easy for taking file associations. I'm guessing Notepad++ does not offer such functionality?

 

[Beatnik]

ok i do not want issues with service packs although i must associate files one by one it can be done so this is what i shall do ALSO if anyone uses a 3rd party notepad what do you use all i know of is Notepad++ and Notepad2 The main difference between the two i noticed was Notepad++ has tab support and Notepad 2 has not tabs a a new window is used for each text file.

Thank you guys for your input I used it on XP after i had installed SP3 as i dont believe i had any service pack issues which you said i would have if i had changed it when i had SP2 then upgraded to SP3. I don't want to deal with issues with Windows 7 as I know i will be installing Service packs in the future as right now i Like Seven the most (if i didn't i would have already installed XP)

Thanks Guys!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Beatnik, glad we could help; thanks for the update!

 

[Beatnik]

Thank you all for helping me decide on what to do!

 

[curtj]

For those who are wondering why not to just change the file associations - some software that has commands to edit text and config files built into them automatically opens notepad with no option to use another editor, and will bypass file associations. When this is the case it is necessary to follow the instructions above to get a different editor to open it.
In my case it is a WAMP package called Vertrigo Server. It has a quick option built into it that allows me to easily open up some server config files, but it's hard coded to use the ...\windows\notepad.exe path which would be ok if I wanted to use notepad, but when I edit them using Notepad++ I get all the extra options, and colour coding too. Well worth following the simple steps here to get what I want.

 

[logicearth]

For those who are wondering why not to just change the file associations - some software that has commands to edit text and config files built into them automatically opens notepad with no option to use another editor, and will bypass file associations. When this is the case it is necessary to follow the instructions above to get a different editor to open it.

Actually you can change those "Edit" commands. My personal editor of choice has the option to do so.
Can also use the tool below to change them.
http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/#tools

 

[flemur13013]

VERY EASY, CLEAN FIX TO REPLACE NOTEPAD with notepad++ or notepad2

You can replace notepad with notepad2 or notepad++ for 'open' (open with...) OR 'EDIT' - which is the tricky one - with a very simple registry hack from Notepad2 Modifications

Do this:

- Create the following registry key if it doesn't exist:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe.

- Inside the key, create a new string (REG_SZ) value, named "Debugger".
(this key already existed on my newly reinstalled W7 system)

- Set the data of this new "Debugger" value to the full path to the Notepad2/notepad++ executable, followed by the /z switch:
["C:\Windows\Notepad2.exe" /z]
( '[]' are around the registry value, not part of it)

My registry entry for Debugger is just this:
[C:\Portables\Notepad++\notepad++.exe] - without the '/z', works great.