How to Change File Type Icons and File Types

A File Type is a file extension such as ".txt" that is associated with an Icon a
nd a program that opens it.
Do you have the wrong file type Icons, or is Windows unable to find the program
to open a File type? Maybe you just want to customize Windows!
Did you ever get a message like "Windows cannot find Ccdialer.exe, this program
is needed for opening files of this type."? This happens because either a progra
m that you uninstalled, made itself the associated program to view the file type
you were trying to open; or you selected the "Always open with" box in the Open
With dialog window.
Maybe you have all your JPG files displaying the Windows default Icon. This prob
lem is fixed the same way as you would fix File types. You are also able to cust
omize the Icon and/or the program used to open a File type. But never alter the
EXE, COM, BAT File types.
This problem is rather easy to repair, it is simply understanding how Windows op
ens a file and knows what Icon to display for that file type.
Let's say you are getting the message I stated above when you try to open a ZIP
file, but it says AOL.exe instead of Ccdialer.exe. You probably had AOL installe
d and switched to a new Internet Service Provider and uninstalled AOL. So you ca
n make this repair very easily, do it one of three ways.
Option 1: This is the easiest way to make the repair, but you cannot customize t
he Icon. You need to locate a ZIP file in the Windows Explorer. Holding the Shif
t Key down right click the ZIP file, this will tell Windows to offer you the "Op
en With..." option in the context menu. Now select the program you want to open
the ZIP file with, I use WinZip, so I would select Winzip32.exe. If I did not se
e Winzip32.exe in the list displayed in the "Open With" window, I would do a bro
wse to find it using the "Other" button. Once you find the program you should pl
ace a check mark in the "Always open with" box before clicking OK. Now all your
Zip files will always be opened by WinZip and all ZIp files will display the Win
Zip Icon.
Option 2: For the second option I am going to use the TXT file type so everyone
can follow. If you start System Sentry ( one of our software utilities) and clic
k on the "Extension Association" tab, then click on "Load Extensions", System Se
ntry will display all the listed File types in it's window.
Using System Sentry , click on the File type TXT, it is displayed as ".txt". Sys
tem Sentry will fill the four windows with the current values for the appropriat
e Keys. The first window will display the "Current Key Value", which is the defa
ult value setting for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt. The second window will display the
Key which the first window points to, which should be "txtfile". This Key is HK
EY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile and it's default setting is "Text Document", however its
value is unimportant here, but the SubKeys are not. The txtfile Key should have
at least two SubKeys, "DefaultIcon" and "Shell". The DefaultIcon default value
is displayed in the third window of System Sentry and it should be "shell32.dll,
-152" (in Windows ME). The Shell SubKey has at least one more SubKey, "Open". An
d the Open SubKey will have at least one more SubKey, "Command". The default val
ue is displayed in the fourth Window, which should be "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE %1
" You can edit anyone of these windows simply by clicking on it and making your
own edits.
Option 3: You can open RegEdit and make all the changes you wish manually follow
ing the Key pointers I showed you in Option 2.

Now the other items you need to know is that the " %1" in "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EX
E %1" tells Windows to start NotePad with the parameter of the file you want to
open. The Parameter " %1" is the same as you typing in the Start/Run box "C:\Win
dows\Notepad.exe C:\Windows\Network.txt" if you wanted to open the Network.txt f
ile. Also note that some DLL files contain Icons and not all Icons inside of a D
LL will use the "-" as in "shell32.dll,-152", before there number.
Now lets have some fun, Lets change all the JPG File Type Icons to a text file I
con. In System Sentry click on the ".jpg" in the left Window. Now click on the I
con Window, the 3rd window, and enter in the popup window shell32.dll,-152. This
could be entered as C:\Windows\System\shell32.dll,-152, but since the file is w
ithin the Windows Folder the complete path is not required. If we wanted to make
the Icon the Recycle Bin Icon, we would enter "shell32.dll,31" without the quot
es. Notice that there is no "-" for the Recycle Bin Icon. Now you are going to a
sk me why, I do not really know why. If the Icon does not work without a dash, I
add a dash, that's my system. To have the Icons change, you may need to restart
the computer. If you get the Windows Default Icon instead, then you need to add
or remove the dash or the file Icon is incorrect. You can also replace a Icon f
rom a DLL file to an individual Icon such as C:\MyIcons\Thisicon.ico