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Change a file's default viewing program!

Time and time again I've installed a graphics program for testing purposes, just to realize that all my images are displayed with the new program! In other words, when I double click an image from Microsoft® Windows Explorer, it's displayed with the newly installed program instead of the Microsoft® Image Preview I am accustomed to. How can I restore the Microsoft® Image Preview for viewing images then?

In this tutorial we will show you how to define which program will display your files (be it images, video etc.)!

Open the Microsoft® Exploring application by right clicking the Start button and left-clicking on Explore

Select an image file from the My Pictures folder, right click on it, highlight and click on Open with...

a dialogue box will appear listing all programs installed on your computer...

click a program (e.g. Microsoft® Image Preview)

click the Always open files with this program option

click on the OK button

and you are done!

Important: The program you select for viewing a certain file type has to be able to run it. For instance, there would be no point in selecting a video and sound reproduction program such as Microsoft® Windows Media Player to view documents! Moreover, whenever you change a file's default viewing program, the change you make is only good for that particular file type! For instance, if you change the default viewing program for a jpeg image file (.jpg extension), this does NOT mean that all image files (i.e. bitmap, gif etc.) will be displayed with this program...

Now you know how to change a file type's default viewing program!!!

Screen shots reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft® Windows Exploring, Microsoft® Image Preview and Windows® are a registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.