Vista Tutorial - Default Programs - Program Default Associations

You would want to select the Works Word Processor to have open the .wps file.

Hmmmm, the problem I'm having is Vista does not seem to let the user set the default Edit program for a file type. I wrote a small script capture program. I use ShellExecute with the 'edit' verb because 'open' may cause the script to be launched and run. Could be an unpleasant surprise. Anyway, in XP it was simple to set the default edit program via the Open With mechanism.

On Vista, even though I have EditPad Lite as the default program to open .txt files, if I do ShellExecute("somefile.txt","","",'edit') I get notepad.exe coming up.

The only solution I've seen so far is to buy some Vista tweaker. That's not viable. Esp. since my program is free.

Even if it's a registry hack I need to know how to change the default editor for a file type?

Hi Miles,

I'm not sure what you mean by default editor. You can set the default program to open a individual file extention if it supports direct opening of that file type though. For example, you can can see if setting EditPad Lite as the default program to open .txt files.

Default Programs

I found a solution. At least it's a freeware. It's called Types and sets file type associations. The difference is, if you set a default 'open' program for a file type, and say the file is an AutoHotKey script, .ahk, then the user of my source snapper
is expecting an editor to open and the code to be displayed. Instead, if the default 'open' program is AutoHotkey.exe, it will run the script!! Not a good idea!! In XP when you did OpenWith you could change the program to open a file type, and change the program to edit a file type. For some nebulous reason this isn't in Vista.

Here's a link to an article where I found the freeware:
Change the Default Editor for Batch Files in Vista :: the How-To Geek

Here's a direct link to the source forge program named Types:
SourceForge.net: Types: Files

(Not sure if you allow links to articles on other sites, but if not you can edit out the first link.)

Ah, I see what you mean now. Thank you for sharing this Miles.

Sure thing. I think my source snatcher thingy is working pretty well so I'll add it to freeware list in a bit.