major problem need help

moggins7

am i have a dell vostro 1500 with vista.
the problem is when i try to open most files they open as a wordpad doc. i mean most of my programms open like this. i cant do a system restore as that comes up as script in wordpad...

this happened after downloading powerISO...

all help grately appreciated..

magooly

try windows update

Internet Explorer
Tools->Windows Update

moggins7

when i try to do that windows explorer comes up in wordpad

i really dont understand wats wrong with this.
could some file be missing or something?? the internet is about the only thing that will run on this...

keystone

I saw this before....

Unistall PowerISO if you can.

If after removing it, there is no change, follow the steps on this site. This worked on the occasions that I saw this.

http://www.techsupersite.com/reset_xp_file_associations.html

moggins7

am both of these still didn't work, i think the batch file was for xp though.. is there a version for vista or would that even make a difference??

keystone

Ahhh....didn't notice the Vista part!

Not sure if the batch will work.

You could do them manually as you need to open them

Open Windows Explorer


Right Click on a file of the extension you want to change


Click Open with...


Make sure you put a check mark in the box next to Set default program

moggins7

yeah thats what i thought i could do but when i went to do it there was no "open with..." i know it seems really strange, the few files that werent affected, pictures mostly, you can still open with whatever program you want..

in the second line of script of all the affected files it says
"This program cannot be run in DOS mode",
this prob doesn mean anything but it just seems strange there

keystone

Hold the ALT key when you right click and you should see an open with option

Tom Dunne

TBH, this is more a Windows problem than a specific laptop problem.

Moved from laptops.

moggins7

still no good.
thanks for the help all the same keystone.
ill try ringing round some places tomorrow...
thanks again

Capt'n Midnight

try booting in safe mode in case a profile problem

in previous versions of windows this was caused by associating .LNK or .EXE with the wrong program

could also be malware

command prompt and run it manually by typing it in

ActorSeeksJob

It's not a malware problem, I have come across this same problem recently but can't find the thread where it was fixed.

If you can't find a solution here then I would post at this site
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Windows-XP-2000-2003-NT-f5.html

moggins7

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

try booting in safe mode in case a profile problem

in previous versions of windows this was caused by associating .LNK or .EXE with the wrong program

could also be malware

command prompt and run it manually by typing it in

if thats true about the .EXE then that most likely the reason for it being like it.
thank you all i will find a solution, i hope!

and sorry how do you run it by command prompt

moggins7

and em command prompt wont work, comes up as a wordpad doc

moggins7

got it fixed after searching the net for an hour or so.
thank you all so much for your help.

heres the link incase this ever happens to anybody else

http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/Restore-the-exe-file-association-in-Windows-Vista-after-incorrectly-associating-it-with-another-application.html

thanks again,
moggins7