Microsoft uses file associations to set default programs for opening different file types on all its operating systems. As a result, when you open a file, be it text, image, or document, on your ...

Microsoft is making it easier to change your default file associations by adding a new search feature that lets you quickly find the extension you wish to modify. When a program is installed in ...

Prior to Windows XP, it was possible to set a program to be executed for each file extension and to divide file icons, but in Windows Vista and Windows 7, the icons of programs to be executed may be ...

Windows 11 (and Windows 10, which reached end of support in October 2025) lets you assign default apps for file types, protocols, and links. But a persistent and frustrating bug causes these settings ...

If you open a file on your computer, it will launch in whatever application is set as the default program. A text file will open in Notepad or WordPad; a photo can be displayed in Preview or Photos; a ...

Sarah is a freelance writer and CNET How To blogger. Her main focus is Windows, but she also covers everything from mobile tech to video games to DIY hardware projects. She likes to press buttons and ...

Every file on your hard drive (.jpeg, .html, and the like) can be associated with a compatible program, which will open that file format by default. Some applications will change a format’s default ...

When you first installed Microsoft Excel, it should have registered itself as the default program for opening compatible file types, such as .xlsx or .xls. Installing other spreadsheet programs may ...

The type of file format that the current data will be saved to if no other file type is selected. For example, in a graphics program, the default file might be a JPEG or GIF. In Microsoft Word, the ...