XLS file association

I was recently "cleaning" up my files and folders. I don't know what I did, but my excel files now have an Internet Explorer icon/association. When I try to open these xls files, I get directed to the internet and an dialog box asks if I want to open, or save. I ask for open and the dialog box closes but nothing opens. When I try to change the associated program to these files, I browse for my excel exe file, select it, but nothing changes.
I can open these files from excel, but need to be able to open them from windows explorer too. What happened?

If you get this XLS Viewer installed I think you can open excel documents from explorer. This is free and there are many you'll find, if you google.
Bytescout XLS Viewer allow to view, print XLS, XLSX (Microsoft Excel) and ODS (Open Office) files and export into HTML without having MS Office or Excel installed