How to change file associations.

How do you change which program starts when you want to open a file? For example, if I were to double-click a .jpg (common image file), Windows would open Microsoft Picture Manager to manage that file type. Since I typically edit these types of files, I would like to open Adobe Photoshop instead, so for convenience sake, I would need to associate that type of file with Photoshop, allowing me to simply double-click the file to open Photoshop. Read below to find out how to change the file association settings.

How to change a file association?
1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click a file for which you want to change the program that opens that file type, and then use either of the following methods to change which program starts:
• Click Open With to choose the program that you want.
• Point to Open With, and then click Choose Program to choose the program that you want.

2. Notice that the Open With dialog box appears. Use one of the following methods to select the program that you want to use to open this kind of file:
• In the Programs list, click the program that you want.
• Click Browse, locate and then click the program that you want to use, and then click OK.
• Click Look for the appropriate program on the Web to browse the Internet for the program that you want.

3. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not already selected.

4. Click OK.

Note: You cannot use this method for a file that does not have a file name extension, or for a file that has a system extension, such as exe, .com, .bat, and so on. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859)

Windows won’t update after performing a Repair Install

So, you read my previous post about how to repair your windows installation, everything went well but now you can’t install Windows updates anymore. Luckily your problem has a fix. Here’s what to do…

You need to register Wups2.dll in Windows.

1. Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
net stop wuauserv

2. Register the Wups2.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:
a. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll
Note For a computer that is running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
regsvr32 %windir%\syswow64\wups2.dll
b. Click OK on each verification message that you receive.

3. Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
net start wuauserv

4. Exit the command prompt. To do this type exit, and then press ENTER.

You can find all scenarios and solutions in the following KB article by Microsoft, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=943144.