Program links and icons all open Word document instead of the programs themselves.

Anonymous
2010-05-16T01:17:15+00:00

Suddenly, all of my program icons on the Desktop and Taskbar have changed into MS Office word icons and open a word document instead of the programs.  I cannot open any programs and the Word document is meaningless.

Robert M. Engelbardt

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2015-08-27T16:36:34+00:00
  1. Click on the Windows logo "Start" button on the bottom left corner of your screen
  2. Type in "regedit"
  3. Click on "regedit" search result
  4. Click on "Yes" to make changes
  5. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\

Software\

Microsoft\

Windows\

CurrentVersion\

Explorer\

FileExts.

lnk

  1. Delete the other keys except "OpenWithProgids"
  2. Log off and log back on

That should return all your links back to normal! :)

thank you very much but one doubt,what about deleated keys, what is the function of that keys?

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Anonymous
2015-01-02T07:20:35+00:00

Many Thanks this way has solved my problem .. cheers

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Anonymous
2010-05-24T22:03:00+00:00

The problem was finally resolved with the assistance of Microsoft Support.  We started from scratch by setting up a new user account and deleting the current one.  Everything works fine now but we never were able to determine how the problem happened in the first place.

Robert M. Engelbardt

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-08-15T04:46:45+00:00

    I do tech support for seniors and have recently had two clients who had this issue and your solution was the only thing I could find that worked. Thank you! Do you know why this happens and how to prevent it from happening in the future?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-16T14:42:15+00:00
    1. Click on the Windows logo "Start" button on the bottom left corner of your screen
    2. Type in "regedit"
    3. Click on "regedit" search result
    4. Click on "Yes" to make changes
    5. Navigate to:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\

    Software\

    Microsoft\

    Windows\

    CurrentVersion\

    Explorer\

    FileExts.

    lnk

    1. Delete the other keys except "OpenWithProgids"
    2. Log off and log back on

    That should return all your links back to normal! :)

    This is the proper solution. Usually this sort of thing happens when a user right clicks on an icon on their desktop with a file extension of .lnk and selects open with <insert program here> and sometimes they choose to set as default. From now on all shortcuts will open with the application selected. The registry fix given here will resolve your issue.

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    1 person found this answer helpful.
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