Sometimes no program is displayed at all, which leaves the user with no other choice than to search the Internet for a suitable program to open the file type.

OpenWith Enhanced improves the Windows Open With dialog. The program is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system. Once installed, it turns the Open With dialog into a more user friendly version.

The program uses a program association database that is constantly updated to suggest applications that can be used to open the selected file in the Windows operating system.

Installed programs are displayed with different backgrounds than programs that are not installed. A click on a program that is suggested but not installed will open the program’s home page on the Internet from where it can be downloaded to the local PC.

That’s handy for users who have no idea which program they need to open a specific file type, and users who would like to try out alternatives to programs already available on the system.

The program options are displayed with a click on Settings. Here it is possible to change the application backgrounds and label colors, the way programs are displayed in the Open With dialog, the sending of anonymous usage statistics and if the program should check for updates regularly.

Another interesting option is the ability to remove file associations for users on the system, and to remove Open With menu entries in Windows Explorer to clean up the context menu of Window’s native file management tool.

Lastly, a click on “look for the appropriate program on the Web” opens the OpenWith Enhanced database on the Internet.

Windows users can download OpenWith Enhanced from the developer website.

Firefox, being one of the most extensible browsers available, offers this feature through add-ons.

Open With is the first add-on, offering exactly that functionality and on top of that great customizability.

open with

First stop after installation are the options of the extension. Here it is possible to define exactly where the option to load a link should be displayed in the Firefox web browser. Possibilities include the View Menu, main context menu, when hovering on links, in the tab context menu and tab bar.

Depending on the choices made it is either possible to load the current page in another browser, a link on a page, or a tab in the tabbar.

open in another browser

The add-on will recognize some of the available web browsers on the system automatically, others can be added in the Manual Entries tab in the add-on’s options.

It is probably best to look in the View menu first to see which of the alternative browsers have been detected automatically, to only add those that have not been.

view page in

Open With is compatible with all Firefox 3 and 4 versions.

Browser View Plus is the second add-on. It supports Firefox only up to 3.6x at this point, which is the main difference to Open View.

The add-on tries to detect the installed browsers and adds those that are found automatically. This can be immediately tested by right-clicking on a page or link. Missing browsers can be added in the options.

browser view plus

Up to four additional browsers can be added, including the option to hide browsers in the link or page menu. The browser locations need to be configured in the second menu tab.

browser locations

Both programs can be used to open Firefox links or pages in another web browser on the computer system. Open With appears to be more flexible in the configuration of locations where those options are displayed to the user.

Another possibility is the Open With desktop client which adds itself to the context menu of Windows Explorer after installation. A right-click on an unknown file type – or any file type actually – will display the “How Do I Open This” entry which will open a new window that contains a short description of the file type and software program suggestions to open those file extensions on the computer system.

Only free software programs have been listed during tests. Open With will link to the download page of those suggested programs or inform the user that the program is already installed on the computer system.

The display of the suggested software programs to open the file extensions was broken on the test system. Another aspect that many users will not like is that the program adds itself to the first position in the Windows Explorer context menu. To move the entry in Windows Explorer read Windows Explorer Context Menu Editor or Windows Explorer Menu Editor.

Lastly the program tries to install another application (PC Mighty Max 2009) during setup which is not needed for Open With to function properly. A quick check on the developer’s homepage revealed that it is a commercial software. It is not recommended to install that software.

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).