Why do all my programs and files open with Microsoft word?

I've seen this happen before when upon opening a program through a shortcut (e.g. .LNK file), you are asked what program to open it with. After selecting Word via the Select a program from a list of installed programs, and checking the Always use the selected program to open this type of file, the Word document referenced by the original shortcut opens in Word as it should.

The trouble is that now all shortcuts (e.g. .LNK files) on the desktop or throughout Explorer will want to be opened by Word. This is known as a file association. . The same condition could occur if you performed those actions on a .JPG or even an .EXE, but the .LNK explanation is far more likely.

This has happened enough that a small utility has been written to undo the .LNK file association that was created. There is a registry hack to accomplish this, but I recommend the unLNK utility for its ease of use.

I used to send people to another site to download this utility, but that site has become confusing with all the ads and false download links. I've put a copy on by own SkyDrive here.

                      

Just download, then use the utility to unassociate the .LNK files for the User or globally Delete the file type and let Windows rebuild a new one to defaults*.*

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