Sarah is a freelance writer and CNET How To blogger. Her main focus is Windows, but she also covers everything from mobile tech to video games to DIY hardware projects. She likes to press buttons and ...

Whether you’re running a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer, you must have noticed that it has its own default programs that you can use right out of the box. While some people find these default ...

Prior to Windows XP, it was possible to set a program to be executed for each file extension and to divide file icons, but in Windows Vista and Windows 7, the icons of programs to be executed may be ...

When you open files that have a particular file extension, Windows will look at its configuration to determine what the default program should be in order to work with these files. The default program ...

Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft’s new ‘principles’ around default app settings and pinning new buttons to the Windows taskbar should ...

There are two methods in Windows 11/10 to set or change default programs. One is the classic Control Panel method and the other is easier – via the new Settings app. We will discuss the Settings app ...

Nearly every computer these days comes with a PDF viewer, a program that allows you to read, print, and sometimes edit a PDF file. In the newest versions of Windows 10, the default PDF viewer is ...

Windows 8 chooses its default players to run your music and video, but what if you want different programs to open your files? Here's how to change them. John Thompson John Thompson has been addicted ...

Windows only: Tiny, portable utility Default Programs Editor makes short work of changing file associations, autoplay settings, and can even change the icon associated with a file type. Once you've ...

When you double-click on a file in Windows XP, the operating system will automatically open the file using a program that has been is associated with the file's extension. It is possible, though, to ...