Windows 10: How to remove File Type Associations using Registry Editor in Windows 11/10

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In Windows 11 or Windows 10, you can Configure, Export, Import File Associations and even set or change file associations and extensions using GUI, but there is no option provided to delete an existing file type association. In this post, we will walk you through the steps on how to remove File Type Associations using […]

This article How to remove File Type Associations using Registry Editor in Windows 11/10 first appeared on TheWindowsClub.com.

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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.

 

How to remove a default file association app from a file type in Windows 10

Ok. I thought you were looking to remove the association, not just change it to a different program. FYI, this article has more info on how to delete an association in the registry... How
to Remove a File Association Using the Registry Editor?

 

Recent File List

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file1

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file2
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file3
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file4
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file5
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file6
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file7
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file8
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file9
...

you get the idea. ( too lazy to put it in a for loop and test it.

or just open regedit and remove all the fileX from that key.