Programs open in Notepad

[laker_66]

most of the programs i try to open on my machine open with notepad . This happened after i accidently opened a file with notepad . I wanted to do system restore back but when i go to system tools->system restore , that program also opens in notepad Garbage.
Also When i reboot the computer i get 19 programs opened in notepad on the desktop including-tptray, apoint, ceekey, ypager etc . i also tried to open command prompt by cmd and it also opens in notepad . Can any one tell me how to restore all the programs to open with their default "open with" rather than notepad . Any thoughts appreciated .

[snowmonkey]

first you have to make sure you don't have any virus.. have you checked ? then, download some sort of spyware and clean your system. Again, go to registry and remove unwanted stuff (applications.exe).

Your file association is messed up, either it is caused by virus or some cheesing shareware program.. there are two solutions:

1- reinstall the operating system.
2- change the file association manually (painful process) ,, open any file, go to Tools / Folder Option / File Type and select a file extension (for example .doc) and then, search for Microsoft word.exe and set the association.

Another way of doing it is,, right click on a file that you want to open, go to "Open With" , then select the program accordingly (by the way there is a check box in there too to allow you to set permanent association.


cheers

p.s,, I hope I did not confuse you

[spen29er]

I have the exact same problem here, and it won't allow me to run a virus scan or spyware scan. Same thing keeps popping up in notepad. Does this virus have a name? I let a family member borrow my computer and this is what I got back. Lovely.

[forrestcupp]

I don't necessarily believe the OP had a virus or spyware, I think that he/she did something that screwed the computer up. At least that's the way the post sounds.

Anyway, if you can't get system restore to work from within windows, you can boot from your Windows CD and it has the option for system restore. This way, you're booting from what's on the CD and not from the corrupted Windows on your hard drive. Restore to a date when your computer worked, and when you can boot Windows normally, be sure to scan for viruses.