hi there all - just managed to screw up my xp... changed by mistake the 'open with' attribute on a shortcut to inetrenet explorer and now all program shortcuts (in start menu, on desktop etc) try to open through IE
any ideas how to fix this?

hi, here's a quick fix

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_easy_file.htm

do this part

Where this is stated-
"The BAT file can be downloaded HERE."

and double click it after you download it
download it to your desktop



This post has been edited by cmpm: Aug 21 2008, 06:22 PM

hi and thanks for the reply. unfortunatly it didnt help solving it but after reading it i can now describe exactly whats wrong...
it is not a problem with shortcuts association but rather with default run of exe files. it seems i messed up the default action on openning .exe files and instead of running them windows try to open them with ie or whatever other program i tried to associate with... the issue i dont know how to get the default run action back or what program to associate exe files with to work again...
it has brought my pc to a stand still so if you know a way out please help
cheers
michel

Well, shoot.

Do you have the "open with" command when you right click an icon?
If you do you can browse to the correct program that the icon is supposed to open.

Other then that I have no ideas.
See if one of these problems and fixes are what you are dealing with.

http://www.google.com/search?q=default+.ex...IC_enUS269US270

thanks again - didnt have the option of open with and even so wasnt sue what would you open an exe file with...
in any case resorted to a fresh install