Default Programs is a control panel that is split into four programs. Set Your Default Programs, Associate A File Type Or Protocol With A Program, Change AutoPlay Settings and Set Program Access And Computer Defaults. In this section I will explain SET PROGRAM ACCESS AND COMPUTER DEFAULTS which allows you to set the default (normally used) Web Browser, E-Mail Client and Media Player.

To use the Default Programs control panel go to the Control Panel and double click on the DEFAULT PROGRAMS icon. This will bring up the Default Programs window (Fig 1.1). You can also bring up the Default Programs window by clicking on the DEFAULT PROGRAMS Start Menu icon - Click on the START Menu button, ALL PROGRAMS and then on the DEFAULT PROGRAMS icon (not shown/exampled here).

Fig 1.0  Double click on the DEFAULT PROGRAMS icon to continue




Fig 1.1  The Default Programs window - Click on the SET PROGRAM ACCESS AND COMPUTER DEFAULTS link to continue

When the Default Programs window appears click on the SET PROGRAM ACCESS AND COMPUTER DEFAULTS link. A UAC (User Account Control) security requester might appear depending on your security settings. If it does appear simply click on its CONTINUE/YES button to proceed.

User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows 7 that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such as moving a system file or changing the default programs. When attempting to change the default programs a UAC might automatically block you off with a requester similar to the one below, because it wants to know if you are the one attempting to change the default programs and not a piece of malicious software for example. In this scenario simply click on its CONTINUE/YES button to continue.

Fig 1.2  Click on the CONTINUE button to continue

After clicking on the CONTINUE/YES button of any UAC requester that might of appeared you are taken to the Set Program Access And Computer Defaults window which is separate to the Default Programs window. The Default Programs window remains open.

Fig 1.3  The Set Program Access And Computer Defaults window

When the Set Program Access And Computer Defaults window opens for the first time it has its three options (Microsoft Windows, Non-Microsoft and Custom) collapsed/closed. In Fig 1.3 above if you click on an option's expand-arrows, on the right-hand-side, it will either expand/open the option (down-arrows) or collapse/close the option (up-arrows). Whereas clicking on an option's radio (circle) button will simply expand/open that option. Once an option has been expanded/opened it reveals its settings.

Fig 1.4  The CUSTOM settings

As you can see. When you click on the CUSTOM option's expand-arrows (Fig 1.3 above) its settings are revealed (above). Also notice its expand-arrows (down-arrows) have changed into the collapse-arrows (up-arrows) and its radio (circle) button is selected.

The CUSTOM settings are stating that they are using the current (last set) default programs and that they are allowing access to the other listed programs. This access means that if a particular program does not want to use the default web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer) it can use (have access to) the other web browsers (FireFox and Opera). And the same applies to the default e-mail program and the default media player program.

If you want to change the default web browser to Firefox all you need to do is click on its radio button (Fig 1.5 below). This will fadeout the ENABLE ACCESS TO THIS PROGRAM setting for FireFox because you have chosen FireFox as the default web browser, therefore programs will have access to it by default. The same applies to the e-mail program and the media player program, simply select the radio button of the e-mail program and media player program you want to use as the default. You do not have to select a radio button for each default program. If you are happy with the default web browser for example leave its setting as USE MY CURRENT WEB BROWSER. And if you do not want to give access to a certain program, such as FireFox, untick its ENABLE ACCESS TO THIS PROGRAM setting.

When you have selected your default programs click on the OK button to apply them (Fig 1.4 above). If you decide you do not want to change any of the settings after all click on the CANCEL button to exit the Set Program Access And Computer Defaults window without changes. Clicking on the HELP button will bring up the Windows Help And Support file.

Fig 1.5  Click on a program's radio button to select it as the default program

If you want to change all your default programs to use only Microsoft programs you should click on the MICROSOFT radio button or expand-arrows to reveal the Microsoft default programs.

Fig 1.6  Click on the OK button to use Microsoft only default programs

When you choose to use Microsoft only default programs it will use Internet Explorer as the default web browser, Windows Mail as the default e-mail program and Windows Media Player as the default media player program. Other non-microsoft programs will still be accessable for other programs to use.

You can ignore the Instant Messaging Program and Virtual Machine For Java settings because they cannot be changed. These settings are also in the CUSTOM settings, if you scroll down the settings, and in the NON-MICROSOFT settings as well (below). This is because these types of program do not need to be defaulted. You can use many instant messengers (i.e. Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger) at the same time regardless if one is the default messenger or not.

If you do not want to use any Microsoft default programs and also want to deny other programs from accessing them as default programs you should click on the NON-MICROSOFT option. It disables access to Microsoft default programs so that other programs cannot access them or use them as a default program. For example. If a program wants to show you a webpage using Internet Explorer it will be told to use the non-microsoft default (web browser) program instead - The non-microsoft default (web browser) program you have chosen in the NON-MICROSOFT settings.

Fig 1.7  The NON-MICROSOFT settings

After clicking on the NON-MICROSOFT radio button use the drop-down menus (above) to select each default program in turn. When you have selected your three default programs click on the OK button to apply them (Fig 1.9 below). The OK button will only be available when you have selected all three default programs.

Fig 1.8  Select a default media player from the drop-down menu




Fig 1.9  Click on the OK button to apply your chosen default programs




Fig 1.10  Your chosen default programs are being applied as the standard default programs

Once your chosen default programs have been applied, as the standard default programs, software and programs alike will know which (default) program to use for the Internet, E-Mail and Music respectively. However. This does not mean they have to use the default program though. Music programs for example tend to favor RealPlayer, if it is installed and has access rights (is enabled), even when Windows Media Player is set as the default media player.

Default Programs, the control panel, just makes it easier for software and programs alike to know what the default programs are. You, as a human, can manually open a music file with any program that supports the music file's Type, but when a computer opens a music file it must have some clue as to what program to use with that music file in order to open and play that music file.

If you want to open a file manually but at the same time have the choice of which program to open the file with, right click over a file to bring up its Options menu and from there hover over the OPEN WITH sub-menu and either select a program from the list or click on the CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM sub-menu menu-item (Fig 1.11 below). If you select a listed program your file will be opened with that listed program now, but only now. After that it will open with its normal defaulted program, when double clicked on, until you use this right click option again.

Fig 1.11  Right click over a file and then select (left click) a listed program or CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM from the OPEN-WITH sub-menu

If you clicked on the CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM sub-menu menu-item (above) you will be able to choose the exact program your file is to be opened with, by default. At the moment the Song.wma file in this example is in the Windows Media Audio file format, denoted by its .wma file extension, and therefore default to being opened with Windows Media Player. By using the OPEN WITH requester (below), that appears after clicking on the CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM sub-menu menu-item (above), you can select a default program for the file.

Fig 1.12  Click on the expand arrow to see more programs that could be used as your file's default program

The Open With program requester allows you to open the file you right clicked on with a program of your choice. There are Recommended Programs (in this case RealPlayer, Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player), Other Programs and BROWSE-for programs to choose from. Clicking on the expand arrow button (above) allows you to see more programs that could be used as a default program, because it reveals the Other Programs and the BROWSE-for programs button.

Fig 1.13  Select the program you want to use as a default program for the file Song.wma

When you have decided which program you would like to open the Song.wma file with (in this example ITunes) select that program and then click on the OK button to continue.

The setting marked ALWAYS USE THE SELECTED PROGRAM TO OPEN THIS KIND OF FILE, when ticked, means once you have opened a file with a particular program (i.e. opened a .mp3 file with Windows Media Player) that program will always be used to open that kind of file (i.e. Windows Media Player will always be used to open .mp3 files). In other words, that program becomes that file type's default program. If you do want this to happen, perhaps because you want to maintain a file's default program but just this once want to open it with a different program, you should untick this setting.

If you cannot find a suitable program to open the file you have right clicked on, even after expanding the view of the Other Programs (Fig 1.12 above), you should click on the BROWSE button to search for a suitable program on your computer. If you are really stuck and cannot find a suitable program, usually because that program is not installed, you can always click on the LOOK FOR THE APPROPRIATE PROGRAM ON THE WEB link. In this example (Fig 1.13 above) I was able to select/use ITunes, using the Other Programs, to play the Song.wma audio file.

How do you know what is a suitable program? Answer. Search the internet and so on to find out what each particular file extension is used with. For example. If you search for the .mp3 file extension you will find it is used with audio files whereas the .png file extension is used with graphic files. A file with the .wma file extension, which is used with audio files, can be played with RealPlayer, ITunes or Windows Media Player for example. How do I know this? Answer. I check which media players can play a certain type of file extension. Something you should do when checking what each file extension is used with. An excellent place to start is on the Sharpened.Net File Extensions webpage.

In this next example I have already clicked on the BROWSE button, which brings up the Open With file requester, to search for a default program for the Song.wma file. The file requester automatically opens the PROGRAM FILES folder by default, as this is the default folder for installed programs, so I just looked for the QuickTime folder and then selected the QuickTimePlayer.exe file as the default program for Song.wma. From there I clicked on the OPEN button.

Fig 1.14  After clicking on the BROWSE button find the program you would like to use as a default program

After selecting a searched for default program and clicking on the OPEN button (above) the Open With file requester closes and the OPEN WITH requester is updated to display your selected default program. In this case QuickTime Player.

Fig 1.15  Click on the OK button, after BROWSEing for a default program, to continue.

At this point all seems well, but after clicking on the OK button QuickTime Player displays the following error message to state that it cannot play .wma files. Hence why I say you should research file types and formats on the internet to avoid these types of problem. More than likely you will have an alternative program to view/play .wma files (such as Windows Media Player or RealPlayer) but do not take this for granted. And even if you do have an alternative program you might not always like it performance/quality, which is one of the reasons for using OPEN WITH. Sometimes a Plug-In/Add-On (extension program) is available for a particular program that allows it to then view/play a particular file type/format. Search the internet for more information (i.e. QuickTime WMA Plug-In).

Fig 1.16  Oh Dear! QuickTime cannot play .wma files. Search the internet for a .wma plug-in/add-on.

When you have already used the Open With program requester, the second time around and thereafter the OPEN WITH sub-memu menu-items display some or all of the other programs you have previously used to open a file, depending on whether or not a program was suitable/installed. For example. A Photo Viewer will not be listed if you want to open an audio file, whereas it might be listed if you want to open a picture file. Obviously, from what has been explained on this website and through your own research, you will know that Notepad for example is not a suitable program for opening a .wma (Song.wma) audio file.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.