After installing many similar programs, we will find it difficult to choose which program to start each time we double-click on a specific file. Basic Windows can open a series of files with its predefined programs (for example multimedia files with Windows Media Player ) but if we wanted to use a custom program, how can we change the behavior of the operating system "> Change Program to open a file in Windows
Edit from context menu
The simplest method we can use to change a predefined program involves the use of the menu obtainable with the right mouse button, so as to immediately instruct the operating system on the program we prefer to use.
To do this, right-click on a file and go to the path Open with -> Choose another app . A window will appear in the center of the screen with all the programs compatible with the file extension, all we have to do is put a check mark on the item Always use this app to open files, select the program to use and finally click OK .
Automatically Windows will set the program chosen as default to open that type of file; if the program to be used does not appear in the list (even if it is correctly installed), scroll through the list in the window until you find the Other apps item, so as to view all those compatible and recognized by the system.
If the app still does not show up in the list, we can search for it manually by scrolling in the list of apps and pressing on Search for another app in this PC, so as to open the management of the computer and be able to manually select the program executable (to look in the C: \ Program Files or C: \ Program Files (x86) folders).
The latter method is the only one that can be used to set portable programs as default, that is, those that we can use immediately without the installation process, from any folder on the computer; a list of portable programs can be found in our guide dedicated to the best portable programs without installation .
In addition to the programs already installed on the computer, we can use other apps compatible with the file extension used, searching for and downloading them from the Microsoft Store; to do this just right-click on the file in question, bring us to the Open With menu and select this time the item Search in the Microsoft Store . A store window will open, with all the apps compatible with the selected file format, we will only have to download the app of our interest.
The window for choosing the default program can also be called up by right-clicking on the file, selecting the Properties menu and finally clicking on the Change button on the General tab.
The latter method can also be used on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Change from Settings (Windows 10)
Another method that we can use to change the default programs of Windows 10 involves the use of the Settings menu, which can be called up by clicking on the Start menu at the bottom left and clicking on the gear button. The same menu can also be opened using the WIN + I keyboard shortcut.Once the settings window is open, click on the App item, go to the Default Apps menu (in the left side panel) and select, for each of the categories present, which program to use. Basically, the system allows you to change the default program for emails, for maps, for reading audio files, for viewing images, for reading video files and for opening Web pages (default browser). With each click on the predefined programs we will see a small list appear with the programs that we can modify for these categories.
To change the default programs for each type of file, go to the window seen a little while ago, scroll down the page and click on the item Choose default apps by file type or, if it is a protocol, click on Choose default apps for protocol . If instead we wanted to choose the default app starting from a program, we use the Configure default settings based on the app item .
We want to restore the apps recommended by Microsoft for all files "> improve the open menu with the suggestion of the best program currently available for older systems (ie Windows 7 and Windows 8.1).
If a file does not open because it has an unknown extension, we will have to find the program to open the file that is not recognized by Windows, as specified in the guide below.
READ ALSO -> Find the program to open an unknown file that is not recognized by Windows
