When I attempt to open certain files on the computer the following message appears: “The file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the set association control panel”. However, completing this procedure is beyond my knowledge. Can you provide assistance? The computer is running Windows XP.

This message indicates that Windows does not know which program should be used to view the file which you want to open. Each file on a computer has a specific file type and file extension. The file type is simply the type of file, such as a Word document. The file extension is a way for Windows to know the type of a particular file and thus which program should be used to open that file. For example, you may have a Word document called “MyDocument.doc”. The “.doc” on the end of the file name is the file extension. Because Windows has associated the “.doc” file extension with Microsoft Word, it knows that any files with the file extension “.doc” are Word documents and thus when double-clicked Windows should load the file using Microsoft Word. This is called the file association. In your case, it seems that the file association has broken. This means that the files you are attempting to open have a file extension which Windows does not know about and has not associated with a particular program. Thus, Windows does not know which program should be used to open that type of file and instead returns the error message that “The file does not have a program associated…”. Therefore, we need to tell Windows what program should be used to open that kind of file.

Before we can tell Windows which program should be used, we need to determine the file extension of the file we are attempting to open. By default these are hidden in Windows, so instead of seeing the full file name with the extension, such as “MyDocument.doc”, you may just see the file name “MyDocument”. So, we need to enable the display of file extensions. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, go to the “Tools” menu > “Folder Options”. In the Folder Options window that appears, click the “View” tab and untick the option “Hide file extensions for known file types” then click OK to save and close. Now you should notice that the file extensions for all files on the computer are visible. Just a word of warning – if you are renaming a file make sure that you do not remove or change the file extension, because then Windows will not know which program should be used to open those files (and will create you a whole world of grief). I suggest that once you have finished re-associating the files which do not work you hide file extensions again to prevent accidental changes.

Locate one of the files which will not open at the moment, and you should see the file extension. If it is a well known file extension (such as .DOC for Word Documents, or .JPG for a graphics file) then you should know which program should be used to open the file. If the file extension is not particularly obvious I suggest that you search the internet for the file extension and try to determine what program should be used to open the file. Once you have figured this out, right-click on the file and select the “Open With…” option (if a sub-menu appears off this option, select “Choose Program” in the sub-menu). In the Open With window that appears, there will be a listing of programs. Select the program that you wish to use to open the file and then tick “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” and click OK. Now, whenever you double-click that type of file again (i.e. files with the same extension) they will open in the nominated program. Should you wish to change the program at any point, simply repeat the above procedure.

If you find that the program you need to use to open the file is not in the list within the Open With menu, the required program may not be installed on your computer. Alternatively, many file types can be opened in various different programs (for example, JPG image files can be opened in a variety of different graphics programs). Therefore, the program which you found in your research to open the file may just be one possible program, and others are installed on your computer, which are able to open that file type. In either case, if you find yourself in this situation then please contact me again and include the file extension for the files you are attempting to open, so that I can provide advice on programs which can open those file types.

Lastly, once you are done, remember to hide the file extensions again in the Folder Options control panel so that you don’t accidentally remove the file extensions should you rename files, as this will cause you major problems and could prevent you from opening those files.