CyberNotes: Add/Remove Programs in the "Open With" Menu
Tutorial Thursday
In Windows when you right-click on a file there will likely be an “Open With” menu that lists the various applications that can be used to open that specific file. I use it all of the time because there’s never really just one application that I want to open a file. For example, with HTML files the operating system naturally want to open them in a browser by default, but you may need to open them in Dreamweaver or Notepad to make some changes. The Open With menu makes that possible.
Today we’re going to show you how you can add or remove programs in the Open With menu. In the end you’ll truly appreciate how much easier it is to open files in several different applications that are installed on your Windows computer.
–Add Programs from Open With Menu–
Adding an application to the Open With menu is a pretty easy task, and can actually be done in a few different ways. The easiest way is probably to right-click on the type of file that you want to alter, go to the Open With menu, and click the Choose Default Program option pictured above. You should now see a window similar to this one:
(Click to Enlarge)
The applications listed underneath the Recommended Programs section are the ones that already appear in the Open With menu, and then underneath those are some of the other apps installed on your computer. If the program you want to add to the menu is listed just select it and hit the OK button. Otherwise you can use the Browse button to hunt down the program on your computer.
One thing that you may want to think about before hitting the OK button is whether you want to make the new application the default for that specific type of file. If you don’t you’ll want to uncheck the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file box.
Any programs that you select from this window will be added to the Open With menu until you decide to remove them.
–Remove Programs from Open With Menu–
Unfortunately there is no fancy interface for removing programs from the Open With menu like there is for adding items. To do this you’ll need to fire up the Registry Editor by opening the Run command (Windows Key + R), and then typing regedit into the box. Messing with the Registry Editor is not for the faint of heart, and I recommend that you understand how it works before diving into it.
The programs listed in the Open With menu should be located in one of two locations in the Registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \ .FileExtension \ OpenWithListHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .FileExtension \ OpenWithList
Note: Replace “.FileExtension” with the extension of the file for which you’re looking to modify the Open With menu.
You should find the applications listed according to their executable name, and all you have to do is right click on the entry and have it deleted:
Tip: If you’re having troubles finding the application listed in the Registry Editor it might be easier to perform a search for the name of the executable. Just make sure that the entry you are deleting is located underneath an OpenWithList entry.
After you’ve successfully deleted the OpenWithList entries related to an extension you’ll want to restart your computer to see the changes take place.
–Overview–
So that’s how the Open With menu works! If you’ve got any suggestions as to easier ways to manage the Open With menu we would love to hear them.
This is just one of the hundreds of CyberNotes we have done. You can find more of them by visiting our CyberNotes category, or by subscribing to our CyberNotes feed. We also have a full feed available if you want to receive all of our articles in your reader!
Tags: CyberNotes, Software, Windows, Applications, How To, Tips And Tricks
Related Posts:
- Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
- Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
- CyberNotes: Minimize Programs To The System Tray
- CyberNotes: Vista Start Menu Emulator for Windows XP
- Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary
Quite interesting tip, I come across lot of extensions which have unwanted programs displayed under the open with option this will definitely help to clean them up
Nice article.
You can also use the OpenWithView application from NirSoft to
enable/disable items in the list.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/o....._view.html
Nice to know the registry location.
Another app that rocks for this is OpenExpert.
http://www.baxbex.com/openexpert.html
who
Is there any way/registry key to remove apps from the Open With DIALOG that comes up? Often, I find uninstalled apps still lying there.
That would probably make it a bit easier for removing some of the entries. Thanks!
I did actually try that out, but didn’t want to recommend it because it really messed up my Open With menu on Vista.
Checkout the app that the How-To Geek mentioned above. Alternatively you can scan your registry for the name of the executable file.
Thanks Ryan.
For some file extensions, I am not able to get a program into the “recommended programs” list. The program always remains in the “other programs” list. Does anybody know a way to solve this?
In Windows XP, you can add, edit, and delete “Open with…” entries using “Folder Options”, accessed either through the Control Panel or under the “Tools” menu in Windows Explorer. On the “File Types” tab, you can select a file type (extension) and click on the “Advanced” button.
Looks like they made it easier to add programs in Vista, but harder to remove them, and they took away some more of the controls (you can include command-line switches when you edit an action in XP).
Which extensions are you having problems with? I assume that there is a default program associated with the extension already?
.dvr-ms : the default program is “Windows Media Center”, but I would also like to be able to quickly open them with “VLC Media Player”. The only “recommended programs” always stay “Windows Media Center” and “Windows Media Player”.
Have you tried setting it as the default program yet? I’m not sure why it’s not showing up in the recommended list, but there’s got to be a reason. Also, are you using an installed version of VLC or a portable version?
Yes, I did set it as default programm but that didn’t change it.
It is the installed version of VLC.
I just don’t understand how it is decided which programs are retained as “recommended programs”.
The recommended programs are normally determined by which programs you use to open a given file type. I’ve never had it not add an option to the list that I’ve manually went and browsed for. If you tried setting it as the default program for the type of file, and it didn’t change then that is probably part of the problem.
When I installed Office 07, it removed Excel from the “Open With” list for .txt files.