File Associations

[Darryl61]

For some reason, file associations for .mpg; .mpeg and .dat are combined and are to be viewed by Media Player. How can I remove .dat extension so that .dat files can be read by wordpad or notepad?? I have tried 'right-clicking' to use "open with"....I have tried to have Tweak UI help...to no avail. Please...what can I do to correct this problem?? THANK YOU!!

[Yardiff]

Darryl61

There are generally two ways of reassociating .dat files with such programs as notepad and the like:

1) Fire up regedit and hunt down the .dat extension in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (you will have to hunt down quite a few keys because things link and link and link in there). Once you find out where it actually runs, you can change this or create a new key in there somewhere to have the .dat connect to instead.

As Microsoft says: THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! ;)

2) A safer way (if you're running Win98/ME/2k) is to open up the My Computer icon, on the menu along the top go to Tools > Folder Options, and then click on the File Types tab. In there you can see that there are options to change which program opens the file.

3) Or you can do what I prefer to do: download a special program like ultraedit (www.ultraedit.com). This program (in particular) allows you to right-click a file and choose "open with ultraedit" - it saves risking mucking up your system.

Cheers!

Yardiff

[Darryl61]

Thanks for your response....BUT....isn't there a simple way for me to remove .dat extension so that MPlayer doesn't open it...and then create a new association with Notepad or Wordpad??? :)

[airy]

it's rather obscure but this has worked for me. try opening a random folder, clicking on "view" on the top bar, selecting options at the bottom of the list, select file types from the next menu, scroll through the extensive list of registered file types until you see the one you want, choose edit, choose edit again until you get a box that asks what program you want to run that extension. browse or paste the path to the new exe. file, in your case notepad. back out using apply or ok's.

[Yardiff]

Originally posted by Darryl61
Thanks for your response....BUT....isn't there a simple way for me to remove .dat extension so that MPlayer doesn't open it...and then create a new association with Notepad or Wordpad??? :)

Darryl61

There are two fairly simple ways:

1) Click the Delete button under the list of file types that are shown by going to Tools > Folder Options > File Types (though maybe your version of Windows doesn't have it).

2) Go to http://www.jv16.org/ and download the program RegCleaner. This has various tabs which allow you to clean out lots of garbage from your registry "relatively" safely and easily. Think very carefully before clicking the "Remove" button! :)

Airy...yes, I've used that myself (on Win95 from memory - it's not as user-configurable as Win98/ME/2k).

Cheers

Yardiff

[Brian48]

Copy/paste the following into a text file with Notepad. Name it notepad.reg :

REGEDIT 4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shell\Notepad\Command]
@="NOTEPAD %1"

Double-click to install. Now whenever you right-click on any file, you'll see a option to open it with Notepad.

[Bob-NB]

I think you will find that this is a very simple way to accomplish what you want.

From the start menu go to "run" tell the system to run "winfile"

Once in "winfile", you use the file pull-down in the upper left corner and go to "associate".

From associate type in "dat" and you will see what it is currently associated with...the program you do not want. Tell the system you want "wordpad document" and it should then make the file association you want. You can simply "browse" if necessary. You will find the proper command here:
c:\program files\accessories\wordpad.exe

This is a sure way of knowing what your associations are and to make them what you want them to be.:)

[Yardiff]

Bob-NB

When I tried to run the "winfile" it couldn't find it :) did a search for "*winfile*.*" and came up only with "winfile.ini". Pity, I was very interested on seeing your post.

May we ask what OS you're running? I'm currently running on Win2k with SP2.

Cheers,

Yardiff

[Darryl61]

The 'winfile' method worked!!! I was able to re-associate .dat files with notepad!!!
Many thanks, Bob!!!

[Bob-NB]

Darryl61, I'm glad to see that it worked for you. File associations are frequently a problem when adding new software, since nearly every program wants to "steal" or take all the associations it can get. This frequently leaves a guy without his favorite program running the app you want.

Winfile is a holdover from the old days of win 3.11 and is in all the win 95 series, win 98 series and winme. Yardiff, apparently it is not in win2k. I am currently running win98 se in a couple of systems and winme in another. I do not have anything running with win2k.:)

[Yardiff]

Bob-NB

Thank you for your answer :) yes, I've often had 'fun' :rolleyes: with Win2k not running something that Win9x/ME does. I'll try to remember that proggie for when I next get that kind of problem on a Win9x box!

Cheers,

Yardiff :)