[brianpatrick]

Hi,
I hate notepad. It mangles my Linux files and is a 25 year old program which has never been updated. Every time I double-click a file associated with it in the registry, I have to:

1. go to explorer ->
2. tools ->
3. folder_options ->
4. file_types
5. scroll down through the ~486 file types to find the right one
6. click change
7. hit browse (because my favorite editor is non-ms)
8. navigate to c:/program_files/vim/vim72
9. double-click on gvim.exe
10. check "always use the selected program ..." box
11. click OK on open_with dialog
12. click close on folder_options dialog.

There are over a dozen extensions I use and need to do this for so we are talking about hundreds of steps involved.

Is there a program out there to search for all occurrences of notepad (or textpad) in the registry's file associations and overwrite it with gvim?

I have seen other hacks on the web where you boot into safe mode, overwrite the notepad in dllcache, servicePackFiles, system32, windows, ... then hack the registry's install sources, servicepacksources, sourcepath, ... and then hack in a dozen or so registry keys with huge, raw, hex text arrays. Egad! What a convoluted kludge of engineering malpractice this architecture is!
http://www.ditii.com/2007/10/12/how-...-party-editor/

The truly sad part of this entire, unnecessary exercise is that it can all be done with 1 line in Linux:
echo "export editor=vim" >> ~/.bashrc; . ~/.bashrc

Is there a better way to do this other than brute force mousing or hacking a Perl script to search and destroy notepad?

Thank you,
BrianP

[Tbird885]

All you have to do is rename your favoured text editor to notepad.exe, and use it to replace the original notepad.exe.

[brianpatrick]

TBird,
Will Uncle Bill let you mess with his files without going through his tools?

From: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/236995
Windows File Protection (WFP) protects operating system files from being replaced by third-party programs or being accidentally deleted. When a file that is protected by this process is deleted or overwritten, WFP automatically replaces the file with the original version.

I don't think it is that simple with xp/sp3. Hope I'm wrong.

BrianP

[Tbird885]

Uncle Bill will give you a warning which you can choose to ignore.

[Tbird885]

Hah! my bad.. the replacement will not survive a reboot.

[1002richards]

Hi,
Have you tried this tutorial at Bleeping Computer:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...torial126.html

Scroll down the page to pass by the ads.

Richard

[Squashman]

Why not just right click the file and do an open with, chose program and then check the box that says "Always use this program to open this file type".

There is a cmd line program to set file associations. If you know all the file types you need associated to VIM, then you can write a batch file to set them all in one shot.

I could have sworn that the VIM for Windows I had used years ago had a setting for file associations in the program. Maybe I was using a different one than you are using.

[brianpatrick]

Hi,
There is an hkey_class_root -> applications -> notepad.exe key. It has both an edit and an open subkeys which both point to a command:
%SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

I am wondering if I can hack these 2 keys and replace this path with Gvim's path. The effect would be an alias.

The standard warning about "backup your entire system before monkeying with the registry" really does apply. I have killed more than one system with manual registry hacks. It is a fragile, feeble house of cards which can crumble to dust for no apparent reason leaving your system unusable.

Would this hack be safe? Does windoz use it under the cover which might crash the entire os? Where is the command line application you recommended?

I found ms `assoc` (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323526):
C:\>assoc | grep txt
.log=txtfile
.scp=txtfile
.txt=txtfile
.wtx=txtfile

It lets you define what a txtfile is, but what does it do with a "txtfile"?

I also found `fileasoc`. It goes into a good amount of detail about how windoz opens files, but has no usage or command line detail. The thought of randomly installing program to see what they do is somewhat risky. This is a primary avenue for letting malware in the front door.

What I actually need is reg.search.replace.pl notepad gvim <enter>, but I can't find it. Anybody seen or written it?

Thank you,
BrianP

[IMiteBable2help]

Why not just change the file associations for .TXT files? Make them open with your preferred program. It's a lot easier than going through all that other crap you're talking about. Not only is it easier, but it's the correct way to do it.

[Squashman]

To do it in a batch file you would need to use a combination of ftype and assoc.

[rbalaji]

Simple solution. Go to file explorer and click on tools->options. Choose file types and then click on the "file types" column. This will sort by that column and will group all text files together. These are the files that are associated with notepad. Now, click on one of them and choose "advanced", not change (change will allow you to change the association of one extension, advanced allows you to change the actions associated with all files that are classified as "text files"). It will come up with a new window that has the name in a box on top (editable) and then a set of actions in the bottom pane. Click on open, then the edit button. Change the program that is used to open text files and the settings will be transmitted to all files of type "text files", not just the one extension from where you started.