Windows 10: How do I get Notepad to list open Notepad files?

Today, right clicking on the Notepad icon on the taskbar has stopped giving a list of Notepad files that have not been explicitly closed. This list is extremely useful to me. Is there any way to recover this feature ?

:)

 

Notepad

Hi Leroy

Right click a file, choose Open With - Choose another App

On the resulting list, check the box marked 'Always open files of type xxx with this app'

Then select Notepad from that list, if Notepad does not appear in that list, scroll down and click 'More Apps'

 

Notepad consuming cpu 40%


Your screenshot of Task Manager and the notepad.exe properties shows the same size and creation date as in @dalchina's earlier screenshot. So it looks like it is the real notepad that's running.

But - it isn't running the way it should. In your Task Manager there should be a > to the left of notepad, and clicking on it should open up a list of the Notepad instances that are running, along with the name of the document that's open (or 'Untitled - Notepad' if none).

Yours doesn't show that (compare it with dalchina's screenshot). Notepad is running - yes, but not the way it's supposed to. It appears to be in the list of background processes, not in the list of Apps where it should be. Could something be trying to run it as a service? Perhaps some malware set this up, but failed to replace the genuine notepad.exe with its counterfeit one?

As a first step I'd look at the Startup tab in Task Manager for clues.

 

notepad

04sall is the name of the document that Notepad has opened. Usually Notepad is meant to open "text" or "source code" files, however it can open other types of files. Now relating back to your issue, the fact that 04sall does not have file format means
that it used by a program or Windows, and could be quite large. This might have caused Notepad to freeze. You will have to force close Notepad, to do that please follow the following steps.

Step 1: Press the buttons "Ctrl, alt, and delete" simultaneously. A list of options should come up. Click on Task Manager from the options that display. Note, if Task Manager is unable to open OR pressing the buttons "Ctrl, alt, and delete" simultaneously
does not do anything, jump to Step 5.

Step 2: In task manager select Notepad. Now click the "End Task" button. If a confirmation message comes up, then click "End Task" in the confirmation message. If Notepad closes then problem is solved. If Notepad does not close please repeat this step.
If repeating this step after 5 times does not work, go on to Step 3.

Step 3: Select Notepad on task manager, right click on the selected Notepad in Task Manager. A drop down menu should come up. Select "Go to Details". After doing this DO NOT click on anything yet. Go to step 4.

Step 4: There should already be something highlighted, right click the highlighted object, a drop down menu should appear. Click "End Task" option from that menu. A prompt will come up, click the "End Process" option on the prompt. If Notepad closes then
problem is solved. If Notepad does not close, please repeat this step. If repeating this step does not work, got to step 5.

Step 5: Hard shutdown the computer, by pressing onto the power button. DO NOT LET GO OF the power button until the computer power indication sign has turned off. Now turn the computer back on. If the issue is gone, then problem is fixed. If "04sall-notepad"
opens up again on startup, please reply back stating that.