Windows 7: Managing Software Once It’s Installed (part 1) - Assigning Default Programs

Installing software is only one part of software management. Often after you install software, you’ll need to make configuration changes to your computer or the software itself. You may want files of a certain type to open in the software when you click or double-click the files in Windows Explorer. You may need to reconfigure, repair, or uninstall the software. Alternatively, you may need to resolve problems with the way the software starts or runs. I discuss all of these tasks in the following sections.

1. Assigning Default Programs

When you install productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop, the installation process may configure your computer so that certain types of files automatically open in the application when you click or double-click them in Windows Explorer. The installation process may also configure your computer so that when you insert media containing music, video, or pictures, the media is opened and played automatically using a particular application.

Associating an application with particular file types and running an application for certain types of media are separate features. You make files with a specific extension or type open in a specific program by associating the file extension or type with the program. You make media on CDs, DVDs, or portable devices open and play in a particular program by making a program the default for AutoPlay.

You configure file associations and default programs either only for yourself or globally for all users of your computer. Your individual default settings override global default settings. For example, you might want Apple iTunes to be your default audio player, but the global default for all users could be set to use Windows Media Player.

1.1. Setting your default programs

You can configure your default programs by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start and then click Default Programs.

2. Click “Set your default programs.”

3. As shown in Figure 1, select a program you want to work with from the Programs list.

4. If you want the program to be the default for all the file types and protocols it supports, click “Set this program as default” and click OK. Skip the remaining steps.

5. If you want the program to be the default for specific file types and protocols, click “Choose defaults for this program.”

6. As shown in Figure 2, select the file extensions and protocols for which the program should be the default.

7. Click Save.

Figure 1. Selecting the program you want to work with

Figure 2. Configuring file extensions to associate with the program

1.2. Setting global default programs

You can configure global default programs—default programs for all the users of your computer—by completing the following steps:

1. Log on to your computer using an account with administrator privileges.

2. Click Start→Default Programs→Set Program Access and Computer Defaults.

3. Choose a configuration from one of the following options:

   Computer Manufacturer

   This option is available only if your computer came preinstalled with a customized version of Windows. This restores the manufacturer’s original defaults for web browsing, sending and receiving email, playing media files, instant messaging, and Java Virtual Machine support, as well as whether you have access to other programs.

   Microsoft Windows

   Sets the currently installed Microsoft Windows programs as the defaults for web browsing, sending and receiving email, playing media files, instant messaging, and Java Virtual Machine support.

   Enables access to other programs. If you’ve installed other programs, you can configure your computer to use the currently installed program for a particular task. For example, if you installed Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook is configured automatically for use as your default email program. To change this, you would click the “E-mail program” list and choose Windows Mail or another program.

   Non-Microsoft

   Sets the currently installed non–Microsoft Windows programs as the defaults for web browsing, sending and receiving email, playing media files, instant messaging, and Java Virtual Machine support.

   Removes access to Microsoft Windows programs if you’ve configured non–Microsoft Windows programs as the defaults. For example, if you installed Mozilla as your web browser and set this as the default, the Non-Microsoft option removes access to Internet Explorer.

   Custom

   As shown in Figure 3, enables you to choose programs as the defaults for web browsing, sending and receiving email, playing media files, instant messaging, and Java Virtual Machine support.

   Each program available to use as a default has a related “Enable access to this program” checkbox. If you clear this checkbox, you remove access to the program when a viable alternative is installed.

4. Click OK to save your settings.

Figure 3. Choosing your computer’s global defaults