Is the file extension correct on my file?

Have you ever experienced the scenario where you receive a file and it won’t open for various reasons?

I experience this a lot. The file might in some cases be corrupt, but in most cases the file extension is just plain wrong.

In my experience the software called TrID by Marco Pontello is one of the best when it comes to finding out what kind of file it is eventhough the file extension might indicate something else.

You can download the command-line version called TrID – File Identifier: http://mark0.net/soft-trid-e.html
As an alternative you can download the .Net version called TrIDNet – File Identifier: http://mark0.net/soft-tridnet-e.html

When you download the main software, remember to also download the TrID XML definiton listed on the same pages, with the file extension definitions that cover about 5000+ different file types.

TrIDNET

  • Extract both the software and the definitions in a folder (or the same folder).
  • Under ‘Definition path’ press ‘Browse…’ and choose the folder where the definitions are.
  • Press the ‘Rescan Defs’-button and let it scan all the definitions.
  • Choose ‘Browse…’-button at the top and browse for the file in question and press the ‘Analyze’-button.

The result will show you which type of file it actually is no matter what file extension it has.

How to change default program to launch Windows .lnk files back to normal

I sometimes through my work with in-house support see this happen. For some reason the user associates for example Internet Explorer or another program with the .lnk files, if asked what program they want to use to open the file.
This normally turns out to become a big problem, as all programs on the desktop and in the Windows Start-menu, now tries to open in the selected program.

You can fix this rather easily by following the below steps:

  1. Click Start Menu, and type: regedit in the Start Search and press <ENTER>.
  2. Navigate to the following registry branch:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\[ext]
    Replace the [ext] with the actual file extension that you want to restore . If you are unsure, browse through all the sub-key under FileExts.
  3. Delete the sub-key named UserChoice.
  4. Exit from Registry Editor.

After you’ve gone through all the needed extensions, reboot the computer and you should be ready to go.

 

 

Disclaimer: I can’t be held responsible for any problems that might arise from following this guide.