Windows Vista All programs stopped working

Suddenly last night all my programs stopped working. When I click on a shortcut I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations Control Panel. "

Now, magically, this seemed to occur just after I attempted to open and edit an .ODF file in Notepad. I opened the file but after editing it, I was unable to save it with the changes. I got a message that it could not find the path to the file. I just exited the file without saving and then tried to open Outlook and I got the above error message. I get this message for every shortcut for every type of program, even if I go to the parent folder and try to run the .EXE file, for example IE or Outlook, I just get this same message. I have rebooted several times but I always get the same result.

Luckily I have a dual boot with XP so I can still get online. I am stumped.

 

Go to this page and download the exe file fix. In Vista, run it according to the instructions on that page and see if that straightens things out.

 

Hey Thanks! That did the trick.
I just wonder how it got messed up in the first place.