Clear unwanted items from the "Open With" list-Windows Xp Tips and Tricks-Windows Xp Tips and Tricks

Clear unwanted items from the "Open With" list

When you right click a file, you may see an option called 'Open With', which lists a number of programs on your computer to open that file with. If you would like to remove some of these options from this list, here's how:

Warning: The following tip involves editing the Windows Registry. Please make sure that you make a backup copy of the registry prior to making any changes.

Go to Start>> Run. Type in: REGEDIT [Enter] or Click OK.

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts

Click once on the 'FileExts' entry to empty its contents into the right pane.

Find the extension you wish to edit and click on the "+" sign to expand OpenWithList (see Figure #1)

Right click on the one that you would like to delete, then select Delete.

Note: Deleting the item from the above registry key may not remove it from the Open With list. Some items may still reside in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry key which is common for all user profiles. 

Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ .xxx \ OpenWithList (Where .xxx is a file extension) 

When you find the desired entry, right click and select Delete.