How do you reverse the "Always Use This Program" error?

[zweebie]

I went to open a video, and when it asked me what program I wanted to use to open it, I clicked Windows Media Player.

But I forgot to un-check the "Always Use This Program to Open This Type of File" box, and this resulted in a very annoying problem:

Every item on my desktop is now a Windows Media Player icon, and worst of all: when I click on one of those shortcuts, it opens Windows Media Player--not the actual program or shortcut!

Same with the taskbar--all the icons are now WMP icons.

Is there some feature or command I can use to "revert" everything back to the icon it's supposed to be, and allow my shortcuts and files to open normally again?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pebbly]

I went to open a video, and when it asked me what program I wanted to use to open it, I clicked Windows Media Player.

But I forgot to un-check the "Always Use This Program to Open This Type of File" box, and this resulted in a very annoying problem:

Every item on my desktop is now a Windows Media Player icon, and worst of all: when I click on one of those shortcuts, it opens Windows Media Player--not the actual program or shortcut!

Same with the taskbar--all the icons are now WMP icons.

Is there some feature or command I can use to "revert" everything back to the icon it's supposed to be, and allow my shortcuts and files to open normally again?

Thanks for your help!

Hi zweebie , Welcome to the forums, Right click on the offending file and select "open with" select the prog you want to open with t, then put you check mark on

 

[zweebie]

Hi zweebie , Welcome to the forums, Right click on the offending file and select "open with" select the prog you want to open with t, then put you check mark on

Thanks for your reply. I've tried that solution already: it changes all my icons to whatever I check.

And even if that solution did work, I would have to do it 100 individual times, since all my icons are changed. But that's a moot point because it doesn't work.

What I need is a way to reset it completely, or "undo" it. Does such a thing exist?

 

[boohbah]

what about system restore ? you could try that

 

[kodi]

Go to Control Panel/default programs and set it to default in there

 

[pebbly]

zweebie have a look at these tuts http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12196-open-change-default-program.html and http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18860-open-add-remove-always-use-selected-program.html

 

[zweebie]

Thank you all for your help. I was able to restore yesterday's settings by using the System Restore feature, as boobah recommended, using tutorials I found through pebbly's links.

I had never done this process before, so it was a good learning experience. Thanks again, you guys are awesome.

 

[boohbah]

Thank you all for your help. I was able to restore yesterday's settings by using the System Restore feature, as boobah recommended, using tutorials I found through pebbly's links.

I had never done this process before, so it was a good learning experience. Thanks again, you guys are awesome.

Thats good news , sorry i didn't realise or i would have been more explicit with system restore howto. dont be afraid to ask we like to help!
welcome to seven forums stick around there is so much to learn ,thats where we all started out here with windows 7.

 

[zweebie]

Ha! Thanks for the friendly welcome boobah!