Windows 10: File associations are lost

Always Open With is checked to use certain apps for mp4, MOV and jpg files. The choose a default app for each type of file list confirms the choices.Yet, days later the association is gone, and the what app do you want to open this file? query returns.This is a relatively recent phenomenon. How can Windows 11, 21H2 be convinced to retain its file associations?

:)

 

Lost association for TXT files

I was hoping you might understand that and save me time and typing.
E.g. is it listed in this orange box?




Likewise, if you right click a txt file, click Open With and folow through the options, is it listed as a program you can potentially allocate as the default handler for txt files?

(I'm not including a screenshot for that).

 

File Association Helper in Startup

from another forum on May 6, 2018:
You can uninstall File Association Helper in less than 5 minutes. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1 — Uninstall File Association Helper via Control Panel

Simply go to Start > type Control Panel > double click the first result to launch Control Panel.
Then go to Uninstall a program > locate File Association Helper in the list and select it
Select Uninstall > wait until Windows completely removes FAH from your PC.
Restart your PC.
Step 2 — Clean the Registry Editor

Now that you removed the program, you also need to remove any traces or file changes associated with it. To do that, you need to open the Registry Editor.

Go to Start > type “regedit” > launch the Registry Editor
Locate the following keys and delete them:
KEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareFile Association Helper
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareFile Association Helper

Step 3 — Check all the hidden files and folders

File Association Helper may have left behind various hidden files and folders. In order to completely remove the software, you can also need to delete these files. Here’s how to do that:

Simply go to Start > type Control Panel > double click the first result to launch Control Panel. On Windows 10, you can also type “Show hidden files and folder” in the search box. Then simply check Show hidden files, folders and drives and jump straight to step number 3.
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Go to Folder > select Show Hidden Files and Folders
Locate the following folders:
Crogram FilesFile Association Helper
C*Biggrinocument and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataFile Association Helper
C*Biggrinocuments and Settings%USER%Application DataFile Association Helper

4. Delete them and then restart your PC.

Step 4 — Empty Temp Folder

The final step is to clean the Temp folder where all the temporary files are stored. To empty the folder, go to Start and type the %temp% command.

This will open the Temp folders. You can now empty them. If the system displays an error message when deleting some files, leave them. The files might be in use by Windows services or some running software.

Step 5 — Use a dedicated tool to remove software leftovers

After you performed all the steps listed above, you have removed 99.9% of all the files and folders left behind by File Association Helper. However, there may be a few file that escaped your scrutiny. In order to make sure that you have removed all of them, you can also use a dedicated software uninstaller.

These applications are specially designed to remove the selected application along with all of its files and registry entries. As a result, the application will be completely removed from your PC.

There are many great uninstaller tools available on the market, but the best are IOBit Uninstaller and Revo Uninstaller so feel free to try any of these tools.

 

Lost file associations, esp RTF

Hi, sorry to hear of your problems.

First, what is your current build (Windows key + R, winver)?

- I'm not sure what that means- grammatically you're referring to a restore point... or perhaps you mean your other option is to upgrade?? But perhaps you are already using 1803, and you mean a restore point to 1803 base build.

Second, if you are on 1803, and have another restore point, that would be the obvious thing to try.
However System Restore doesn't always work when you want it to- which is why we continually and frequently advocate the routine use of disk imaging e.g. using Macrium Reflect (free) + large enough external storage.

Do you use disk imaging by any chance?

If you have upgraded to 1803, then some people are encountering some difficulties. Perhaps that's what you're referring to.

Wordpad is included in the OS so can't be reinstalled separately.

There's no obvious cause, so I suggest a couple of basic steps:
a. run
chkdsk c: /scan
from an admin command prompt and report the result

b. do an antivirus scan

Finally see:
Restore Default File Type Associations in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

- which may help you restore associations- but this depends on the underlying cause.

The Tutorial section from which that comes is worth being familiar with:
Windows 10 Tutorials
searchable list:
Windows 10 Tutorial Index | Windows 10 Tutorials