Default program headaches

HPx64

I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.

The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a
*.odt file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close
it, and the odt file opened - in Wordpad!

Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
files continued to open in Wordpad.

After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now
all the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown
application". But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with
swriter.exe.

So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
the correct associations during the installation process. No problem
with the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
previously), and the selection stuck.

PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.

I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:
> HPx64
>
> I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
> were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
> I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.
>
> The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a
> *.odt file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close
> it, and the odt file opened - in Wordpad!
>
> Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
> were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
> association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
> programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
> wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
> files continued to open in Wordpad.
>
> After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now
> all the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown
> application". But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with
> swriter.exe.
>
> So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
> the correct associations during the installation process. No problem
> with the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
> LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
> this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
> LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
> previously), and the selection stuck.
>
> PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.
>
> I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
> was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.

I highly recommend NirSoft FileTypesManager to really take control of
file types.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html
--
Crash

I always thought Mensa was a Japanese import.

> "Jeff Layman"<> wrote in message
> news:j9rvos$ve0$...
>> > HPx64
>> >
>> > I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
>> > were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
>> > I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.
>> >
>> > The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a *.odt
>> > file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close it, and
>> > the odt file opened - in Wordpad!

What you should do:
You must completely uninstall Open Office with a 3rd party utility
first. I use Revo, there are others. If there are any profile data in
Open Office, back those up first.

Why you should do this:
Windows Uninstall does not do a proper job, leaving behind all kinds of
files and registry entries that can interfere with the operation of
fresh install. Keep in mind that O.O. and L.O. share a large amount of
code, so that left-over references to O.O can and will reference L.O.
bits and pieces. This could be the reason for the strange behaviour you
reported.

Will it work?
Maybe. I wanted to do the opposite on my Linux laptop, but starting O.O.
brought up L. O. Go figure. ;-(

BTW, Revo can clean up leftovers from previous uninstalls, too. Another
good junk cleaner is CCleaner, which I would recommend as essential on
any Windows system. Both are freeware.

Good luck,
Wolf K.

On 14/11/2011 21:46, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
> Jeff Layman wrote:
>> HPx64
>>
>> I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
>> were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
>> I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.
>>
>> The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a
>> *.odt file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close
>> it, and the odt file opened - in Wordpad!
>>
>> Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
>> were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
>> association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
>> programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
>> wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
>> files continued to open in Wordpad.
>>
>> After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now
>> all the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown
>> application". But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with
>> swriter.exe.
>>
>> So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
>> the correct associations during the installation process. No problem
>> with the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
>> LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
>> this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
>> LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
>> previously), and the selection stuck.
>>
>> PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.
>>
>> I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
>> was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.
>
> I highly recommend NirSoft FileTypesManager to really take control of
> file types.
> http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html

Thanks. I've downloaded the x64 version for future use if needed.

--

Jeff

Micro$oft marketing policy?

"Jeff Layman" <> wrote in message
news:j9rvos$ve0$...
> HPx64
>
> I decided to use Programs and Features to get rid of some bloat. There
> were a few utilities, but mainly I wanted to uninstall OpenOffice 3, as
> I'd recently installed LibreOffice 3.4.1.
>
> The uninstall went without problem. I rebooted, and tried to open a *.odt
> file. Up popped a warning about PDFCreator! I clicked to close it, and
> the odt file opened - in Wordpad!
>
> Checking Default Programs, all the od(whatever) files - and many others,
> were now associated with PDFCreator! I tried to change the *.odt
> association to swriter.exe (LibreOffice word processor) in "Other
> programs", but although it appeared to go through the process, it just
> wouldn't stick, even though I was doing it as an administrator. The odt
> files continued to open in Wordpad.
>
> After hours of faffing around, I decided to uninstall PDFCreator. Now all
> the previous PDFCreator associations changed to "Unknown application".
> But it was still not possible to associate *.odt with swriter.exe.
>
> So I uninstalled LibreOffice 3.1, and installed 3.4.1, hoping to pick up
> the correct associations during the installation process. No problem with
> the installation. All od(whatever) files now associated with
> LibreOffice - except %^$£&^ odt which _still_ opened with Wordpad! But
> this time I was able to change the association in Default Programs, as
> LibreOffice now appeared in the "Recommended programs" list (it hadn't
> previously), and the selection stuck.
>
> PDFCreator was reinstalled without problem.
>
> I'm not sure what's going on here (permissions?), but associating files
> was a lot easier - and effective - in XP.
>
> --
>
> Jeff

On Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:32:10 +1100, "blank" <>
wrote:

>Micro$oft marketing policy?

Are you one of _those_ people? You know, the ones who have trouble
spelling Microsoft, or the ones for whom everything is some sort of
conspiracy?

--

Char Jackson

On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:49:30 -0500, Wolf K wrote:

> Why you should do this:
> Windows Uninstall does not do a proper job, leaving behind all kinds of
> files and registry entries that can interfere with the operation of
> fresh install.

Everybody says that. But Windows Uninstall does only this: it calls the
uninstaller pro bided by the maker of the software.

It is not Windows Uninstall that fails, it's Open Office Organization's
uninstaller that fails.

Many people say what you said, I just didn't get driven to scream until
just now. Translation: it's not about you, it's about me :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:03:34 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

> pro bided

provided

Sorry. It's not so much that the spell checker is dumb, it's that I'm
dumb enough to almost trust it.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:12:50 -0800, "Gene E. Bloch"
<not-> wrote:

>On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:03:34 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
>
>> pro bided
>
>provided
>
>Sorry. It's not so much that the spell checker is dumb, it's that I'm
>dumb enough to almost trust it.

It looked fine to me. That's exactly how I say it when I have a cold
and I'm seriously congested. :-)

--

Char Jackson

On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:42:18 -0600, Char Jackson wrote:

> On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:12:50 -0800, "Gene E. Bloch"
> <not-> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:03:34 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
>>
>>> pro bided
>>
>>provided
>>
>>Sorry. It's not so much that the spell checker is dumb, it's that I'm
>>dumb enough to almost trust it.
>
> It looked fine to me. That's exactly how I say it when I have a cold
> and I'm seriously congested. :-)

Good thing I already finished my beverage! I hate coffee sprayed onto
the keyboard...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)