Windows Vista Remove file association (to leave extension UNassociated)

Hi
I have just been finding out about .xpm files and erroneously I associated them to several programs to open & view their content.
As they can be opened by several programs I would like to remove the associations I made (& leave .xpm unassociated-so I can open them from within whichever program I am using at the time) but I have tried (see below & with a couple of small dloaded programs supposedly for this task) & have not succeeded yet!
How do I do this in Vista?
(I tried assoc in cmd prompt but unsuccessfully & I am not too keen to get into the registry but I will if I have too!).
I will continue to try myself, but would appreciate helpful replies, thanks

 

I expect it is the same as previous Windows versions. Go to Start -> Computer, navigate to the location of a .xpm file. Hold down the Shift key and right-click on the file. Select Open With. There should be a selection Default Program. Uncheck the box "Always use this program to open this type of file ".

 

Hi
Thanks for your reply. This does not work however as when I uncheck the box <always use this to open> & click OK the program either stays associated with the .xpm file or changes to one of the other prorams listed already in the open with box. When I try to use the facility to let Windows search on the internet this returns Windows does not recognise this file. I need to remove the association and have it remain unassociated but it will not let me do this!

Do you have anymore suggestions please? I look forward to your reply,thanks

 

You said you want to be able to "open them from within whichever program I am using at the time. "

If that's what you want to do, it doesn't make any difference what program the file is associated with.

All the association does is tell Windows what program to use when you double click the file itself. It does not interfere with opening the same file through another program's File>Open menu so long as that program can open that type of file.

According to what little I know of the xpm format, it can be opened by any text editing program...Microsoft's Word, Notepad, Wordpad and Open Office's Writer, for example.

 

I agree it doesn't make any difference what program the .xpm files are associated with (given it is a program that can open them to edit or use them) however they were originally not associated with any program & I would like to change back to that state.
I expect there is a way to do this (registry edit or other means).

So as I have previously stated, can someone advise me how I can remove the file association & leave these files unassociated as they were originally?
I look forward to more helpful replies, many thanks

 

Now that Windows "knows" what programs the file can be associated with, I expect it is choosing it's own default.

I think my experience on problems with associations was probably mostly gained from Miz. I am glad she has seen this.

When you are offered "options" for what program to open a file, those options will be saved to the registry. Registry editing is not my game. It seems you want to make Windows "dumb" about those files. I can't see why. Miz gave you a "how to ".

Matt

 

Thanks for your replies. Reluctantly then I think I will have to edit the registry to do this file unassociation (I am not 100% confident about registry editing & do not want to make a mistake that causes further problems. I suppose first I must look into how to make a registry backup. I guess I should learn something new! Pity there is no simpler way in Vista to do this, as it is relatively simple to make a file association but not to remove one & reset to original default).
Thanks again & best wishes