Here's our Windows 95/98 Tip for.. April 30, 1998
Click Here to see a complete list of all of our previously released Tips!
Associate unknown file types with Notepad
If you're like most people, you probably have many files on your PC that have no program associated with them at all. These can be system files or all sorts of extras installed by other programs. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to view these files so you could at least get an idea what they contain? Well, there's no perfect solution but here's a fair compromise that's better than nothing. You can associate all Unknown file extensions with Notepad. You'd be surprised how many of these file types can be read with a simple text editor.

Open the Registry Editor (Start, Run, REGEDIT) and follow these steps:

Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown

Left-click the [+] next to Unknown to expand the branch

Right-click shell (under Unknown) and select New, then Key

Name this new key something descriptive, like Open in Notepad

Right-click this new key and again, select New, then Key

Name this key command, then select it

In the right pane of REGEDIT, double-click the name Default

In the Value Data field enter notepad.exe %1

Click OK then exit REGEDIT

From now, if you right-click any of the unknown file types in Explorer, you'll see a menu option to "Open in Notepad".

WARNING!! This is a REGISTRY HACK! And as such, you MUST FIRST make a backup of your Registry so that you can recover from any mistakes you might make. The Registry is a very unforgiving place if you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing. An incorrect Registry entry can render your entire system INOPERABLE. DO NOT attempt to change Registry settings without a Backup. Don't say we didn't warn you...

The Configuration Backup Utility is one of the CD-Extras, so if you don't have the CD-ROM version of Windows 95, CLICK HERE to download it now.