TIP! For Windows 8 / 8.1 installations

[Hitchhiker]

There's a setting in vlc prefs that allows you to set vlc as the application to open file types. You might be tempted to use the option to open all files types which vlc can open. But later on you'll probably discover that this wasn't advisable because doing so will cause the file to be opened in vlc when that's the last thing you want.

I discovered this myself today when I downloaded the Windows 8.1 ISO image from the Microsoft site. My precious machine has been playing up just lately and I was running out of ideas of how to fix it and decided to download the ISO as a last resort if nothing else worked. But I noticed that the ISO file would be opened with vlc if I ran it. I know vlc is a versatile application but I doubt if it could be used to reinstall the OS. So how to change the file association?

Windows Control Panel ---> Default Programs ---> "Associate a file type or protocol with a program" is where they're all the file types are listed, but it's not so easy to change the association especially if you don't know what the default application to open a specific file is.

So here comes the tip! Go to Eight Forums and download the zip file you'll find in the link. It contains registry files to be used to reassociate the default programs to open a specific file type with. All you need do is unzip the file and then drag & drop the reg file you want to use, run it to merge into the registry and then reboot. So now my ISO file doesn't open with vlc anymore.