Default program changed for .exe. HELP!

6633 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by davehc, Oct 1, 2008

Dc9306

Discussion Starter · Sep 30, 2008

I downloaded a program that had no extension so I played around with it to try to get it to open. When I was messing with it I accidentally opened it with Adobe Reader and it changed my default program to open all .exe files to Adobe Reader. I uninstalled Adobe Reader and it solved the problem but I would like to get Adobe Reader back. I cant find the way to change the program back. Any help? If you can get very specific I would appreciate it. Thanks!

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Elvandil

· #2 · Sep 30, 2008

Open regedit. Find:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile

and

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe

Open the "shell" subkey and delete anything that refers to Adobe.

Be use to export each key to a safe place for restoration in case you need it before making changes.

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Dc9306

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 1, 2008

I couldn't see anything to do with Adobe Reader in the registry. I am running Vista if that changes anything. I tried a couple of work-arounds today but had no luck. If there isn't a way to fix it is there at least another program I can use to read PDFs besides Reader?

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shinybeast

· #4 · Oct 1, 2008

I think you can reinstall Adobe Reader with no problems as long as you are rid of the .exe association and your executables work normally. You can also try Foxit Reader. It's what I use because it's small and fast compared to Adobe.

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davehc

· #5 · Oct 1, 2008

Go to this site and select the .exe option. After you have run it, your exe problem will be solved. You should then find it easy to reinstall Adobe.
As the above poster says, foxit is also a pdf reader. It works considerably faster than Adobe.

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