Windows cannot open this file?....details below...?

Question

When i try to open certain files/folders etc. i get this windows popup box that says....

windows cannot open this file:

File: (shows name of file)

To open this file, windows needs to know what program created it.Windows can go online to look it up automatically,or you can manually select from a list of programs from your computer.

What do you want to do?

Use the web service to find the appropriate program.

Select the program from a list.

When i try to use the web it brings me to some crazy website that doesnt help at all.(shell.windows.com)It just gives me the n file type and file extension or whatever.And when i try to choose a program from the list it gives me a weird list of programs that i have, like microsoft word,internet explorer,nero burning rom,vlc media player etc.None of which help me at all.This happens really frequently and its very frustrating.What does it all mean?What can i do to fix it?

Answer 1

I think its means that whatever shortcut your trying to use does not have the program that created it installed on your computer. Best thing to do is delete the shortcut and install the program back into your computer. Go to [START] / [My Computer] / [Local Disk C: Drive] / [Program Files]. Look for that program on the list and open it. You should see and [install] icon in one of those folders. Click it and download the program back into your computer.

Sometimes a program that's been downloaded on your computer like a video game demo that uses a shortcut and it doesn't work anymore, the time on the demo has expired, in that case, just delete the shortcut and the program from your computer because its no good.

Answer 2

hi,this usually happens when you are trying to open a file which dosent have an application to support it.ex after you craete a word document(say test.doc) using microsoft office word,and after that if u uninstall word,then when u try opening test.doc the same error will appear.So u have to find out the extension of the file which shows such error and chek which software supports that format,and install that software.