Default program headaches

[Jeff Layman]

HPx64

I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.

The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a
*.odt file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close
it, and the odt file opened - in Wordpad!

Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
files continued to open in Wordpad.

After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now
all the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown
application". But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with
swriter.exe.

So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
the correct associations during the installation process. No problem
with the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
previously), and the selection stuck.

PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.

I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

HPx64

I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.

The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a
*.odt file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close
it, and the odt file opened - in Wordpad!

Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
files continued to open in Wordpad.

After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now
all the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown
application". But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with
swriter.exe.

So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
the correct associations during the installation process. No problem
with the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
previously), and the selection stuck.

PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.

I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.

I highly recommend NirSoft FileTypesManager to really take control of
file types.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html

 

[Wolf K]

What you should do:
You must completely uninstall Open Office with a 3rd party utility
first. I use Revo, there are others. If there are any profile data in
Open Office, back those up first.

Why you should do this:
Windows Uninstall does not do a proper job, leaving behind all kinds of
files and registry entries that can interfere with the operation of
fresh install. Keep in mind that O.O. and L.O. share a large amount of
code, so that left-over references to O.O can and will reference L.O.
bits and pieces. This could be the reason for the strange behaviour you
reported.

Will it work?
Maybe. I wanted to do the opposite on my Linux laptop, but starting O.O.
brought up L. O. Go figure. ;-(

BTW, Revo can clean up leftovers from previous uninstalls, too. Another
good junk cleaner is CCleaner, which I would recommend as essential on
any Windows system. Both are freeware.

Good luck,
Wolf K.

 

[Jeff Layman]

I highly recommend NirSoft FileTypesManager to really take control of
file types.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html

Thanks. I've downloaded the x64 version for future use if needed.

 

[blank]

Micro$oft marketing policy?

 

[Char Jackson]

Micro$oft marketing policy?

Are you one of _those_ people? You know, the ones who have trouble
spelling Microsoft, or the ones for whom everything is some sort of
conspiracy?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Why you should do this:
Windows Uninstall does not do a proper job, leaving behind all kinds of
files and registry entries that can interfere with the operation of
fresh install.

Everybody says that. But Windows Uninstall does only this: it calls the
uninstaller pro bided by the maker of the software.

It is not Windows Uninstall that fails, it's Open Office Organization's
uninstaller that fails.

Many people say what you said, I just didn't get driven to scream until
just now. Translation: it's not about you, it's about me

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

pro bided

provided

Sorry. It's not so much that the spell checker is dumb, it's that I'm
dumb enough to almost trust it.

 

[Char Jackson]

provided

Sorry. It's not so much that the spell checker is dumb, it's that I'm
dumb enough to almost trust it.

It looked fine to me. That's exactly how I say it when I have a cold
and I'm seriously congested.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

It looked fine to me. That's exactly how I say it when I have a cold
and I'm seriously congested.

Good thing I already finished my beverage! I hate coffee sprayed onto
the keyboard...

 

[XS11E]

Are you one of _those_ people? You know, the ones who have trouble
spelling Microsoft, or the ones for whom everything is some sort
of conspiracy?

blank is just a common, ordinary troll, one of those for whom Bozo Bins
were invented.

 

[Char Jackson]

blank is just a common, ordinary troll, one of those for whom Bozo Bins
were invented.

Thanks, I'm coming to the same conclusion.

 

[Jeff Layman]

What you should do:
You must completely uninstall Open Office with a 3rd party utility
first. I use Revo, there are others. If there are any profile data in
Open Office, back those up first.

Why you should do this:
Windows Uninstall does not do a proper job, leaving behind all kinds of
files and registry entries that can interfere with the operation of
fresh install. Keep in mind that O.O. and L.O. share a large amount of
code, so that left-over references to O.O can and will reference L.O.
bits and pieces. This could be the reason for the strange behaviour you
reported.

Will it work?
Maybe. I wanted to do the opposite on my Linux laptop, but starting O.O.
brought up L. O. Go figure. ;-(

BTW, Revo can clean up leftovers from previous uninstalls, too. Another
good junk cleaner is CCleaner, which I would recommend as essential on
any Windows system. Both are freeware.

Yes, I am aware of Revo (I've even recommended its use here!). I
appreciate the similarity between OO and LO, but that does not explain
the bizarre behaviour of "Default Programs".

The issue here is one of file associations. That can be something which
comes up during installation (most certainly with media-viewing programs
such as IrfanView), but in this case the problem was Win7's
recalcitrance in changing the association, or choosing something of its
own. However did Wordpad get selected to open an OpenOffice/LibreOffice
writer file?!

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Yes, I am aware of Revo (I've even recommended its use here!). I
appreciate the similarity between OO and LO, but that does not
explain the bizarre behaviour of "Default Programs".

The issue here is one of file associations. That can be something
which comes up during installation (most certainly with media-viewing
programs such as IrfanView), but in this case the problem was Win7's
recalcitrance in changing the association, or choosing something of
its own. However did Wordpad get selected to open an
OpenOffice/LibreOffice writer file?!

Wordpad is what my computer associates with odt by default. Wordpad is
what Windows tries to use on any document file that hasn't been adopted
by another program. I suspect that Open Office freed up odt when it was
uninstalled, just like it was supposed to do, but Libre Office didn't
adopt it, as it should have done. If Libre Writer doesn't have a file
association setup option, use File Types Manager or Regedit to change
the association.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Thanks, I'm coming to the same conclusion.

I just ignore the "Micro$oft" and "Windoz" people. I figure anybody that
has that low an opinion of Microsoft yet still installs their software
is too stupid to help or be helped.

 

[Shoe]

Wordpad is what my computer associates with odt by default. Wordpad is
what Windows tries to use on any document file that hasn't been adopted
by another program. I suspect that Open Office freed up odt when it was
uninstalled, just like it was supposed to do, but Libre Office didn't
adopt it, as it should have done. If Libre Writer doesn't have a file
association setup option, use File Types Manager or Regedit to change
the association.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - Under the default programs tab, there
is a selection to "Associate a file type or protocol with a specific
program". I believe that could be used to resolve the issue the OP was
concerned about.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - Under the default programs tab, there
is a selection to "Associate a file type or protocol with a specific
program". I believe that could be used to resolve the issue the OP was
concerned about.

You may be right. I never explored it that far.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - Under the default programs tab, there
is a selection to "Associate a file type or protocol with a specific
program". I believe that could be used to resolve the issue the OP was
concerned about.

That's what I was using. The problem seemed to be that if I wanted to
"Change program" to associate that file type with something under
"Recommended programs", then that change was made. But if I wanted to
use something in "Other programs" (there were some listed, but I didn't
want any of those) and browsed to find the *.exe needed to open the
file, that selection did not stick.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Wordpad is what my computer associates with odt by default. Wordpad is
what Windows tries to use on any document file that hasn't been adopted
by another program. I suspect that Open Office freed up odt when it was
uninstalled, just like it was supposed to do, but Libre Office didn't
adopt it, as it should have done. If Libre Writer doesn't have a file
association setup option, use File Types Manager or Regedit to change
the association.

That makes sense in a Microsoft sort of way. I assume that somewhere in
the bowels of Win7 there is something which tells it that an odt is a
document file, and therefore to be associated with Wordpad.

Fortunately (see my reply to Shoe) when I installed LO3.4.1 it appeared
in the list of "Recommended programs" to which a file association could
be made. I simply selected it for odt (instead of Wordpad) and the file
association stuck.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Fortunately (see my reply to Shoe) when I installed LO3.4.1

I mean LO3.4.4...