Windows associates data files with applications so that the appropriate program launches automatically when the icon or name of the data file is clicked. For example, if a GIF image is associated with ...

Group Policy enables businesses to control and configure computer and user settings in an Active Directory environment. Administrators can use Group Policy Management Console to make changes to ...

One of the more frustrating things I experience in daily usage of my Mac is opening a file that launches an unexpected application, which can sometimes result in a failure to open the file. Joe is a ...

Every file on your hard drive (.jpeg, .html, and the like) can be associated with a compatible program, which will open that file format by default. Some applications will change a format’s default ...

I should have put this in my book I just learned two Windows command line utilities that I never knew existed: assoc and ftype. Both will display or modify the file association list, and are ...

Many times there will be odd names listed in the permissions field for files on their systems, and people have wondered about them and what they mean. Topher, an avid Mac user for the past 15 years, ...

When you double-click on a file in Windows 8, Windows will automatically open that file using a program that has been associated with that file's extension. There may come a time, though, that you ...

I recently changed the file association for a subset of my video collection. Now, I've always assumed that that sort change registered itself on the OS level and that the file itself goes untouched.

When you open files that have a particular file extension, Windows will look at its configuration to determine what the default program should be in order to work with these files. The default program ...

(1) The relationship of one file to another based on the data it contains. (2) An established relationship between a file and the application used to open it. There are default file associations ...