Windows itself offers to search for a suitable file but history has shown that the feature is not as reliable as it should be as no suitable program is offered most of the time.

The free software Smart File Advisor is an alternative to Window’s native association search. The application displays its screen whenever a file is loaded that no program is associated with.

It offers to search the file Facts database for an appropriate program to open the file type. It is optionally possible to submit the first 20 bytes of the file which is usually part of the file header to improve identification.

Users who do not want to search the online database can instead skip the procedure and use Windows to manage the file type. The second option displays the standard Windows dialog to pick a program to open the file.

The program launches the file facts website if the option is selected by the user.

The software simplifies the process of searching for a suitable program. Users who do not want to install it can simply bookmark the developer website instead to search for the appropriate program there. Smart File Advisor is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows, a download is offered at the File Facts website. (via)

Open Expert is a free software program that can be used to manage the Open With applications in the Windows operating system. It adds the option to Configure Applications to the Open With menu which can be used to add, remove or sort the Open With applications.

A right-click on any file type and the selection of Open With > Configure Applications will display all applications that are currently configured for that file type. The add button provides the option to add a new applications while remove will delete an existing one. The up and down arrows can be used to sort the Open With menu to place the most commonly used applications at the top of it.

Open Expert is a lightweight 650 Kilobyte application that can be run on any Microsoft operating system prior to Windows Vista (Windows 9x to Windows XP).

File Types Manager from Nirsoft is an alternative that adds additional information, functions and a window that is resizable. The File Types Manager lists additional information like the default icon, the mime type and the modified time to the list of available information.

Default applications can be changed by pressing F4 or by right-clicking the file type and selecting replace file type for selected extension. A list of available applications will be displayed and the user simply selects on to change the default application.

Selecting a file type and pressing F2 makes it possible to edit the file type. It is possible to change the file description, the default icon, the mime type, the perceived type as well as several advanced options like to always show the file type, to not open the file type in a browser window or to open the file type immediately after download without confirmation.

This is another excellent software from Nirsoft, thanks to Donation Coder who discovered this gem.

Some users may have tried to change the file association with a double-click on the file after removing all existing associations from it.

My particular problem occurred after moving an application to another drive. Loading the file from within that application worked fine which was good to know. I tried searching the Internet for an solution but was not able to find one.

I then decided to solve the problem on my own. Here is how I repaired the broken file association and added the right executable as the default software for this application. Everything that needs to be done can be done using the command line and two commands.

Open the Windows command line and type the follwing ‘Assoc .ext’ replacing .ext with the file extension in question. It should display something like ‘.ext=name’.

Remember that and type ‘ftype name=”path to executable”‘. You might need to write ‘assoc .ext=name’ again to finish the process.

This way the file extension will again be associated with the correct executable. Below is a screenshot of how I changed the broken file association using the command line.

Update: Some users have asked for an example: Type Assoc .nzb into the command prompt and hit enter. Windows should now return the associated class for the file type. You can now use the command ftype [class]=”new path to program” to fix the file association, e.g. ftype nzb_auto_file=”d:\test\nbpro.exe”.