Member Avatar for McLaren

Hi,

I made a stupid thing. The girl send me .lnk file and told that its a picture. I said its not a picture, its a link. She didn't agree, so I didn't want to waste my time proving her and just tried to open it with irfanview. Of course it didn't open. But now when I clink on some link, it calls the irfanview program, does not call the application which it is linking to.

How to set those files not to open with irfanview?

(some girls are really stupid, she still does not believe that she send me a link, she tells she send a picture file, what a stupidness.. )

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by steven woodman

Dani AI

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Accidentally setting IrfanView as the handler for .lnk (shortcut) files makes Windows try to open every shortcut with IrfanView instead of launching the shortcut target. The PowerTools utility that linked is a good quick fix for this class of problem; it resets the shortcut association without manual registry surgery. is also correct that the root cause is a changed file-type association in the registry, but editing the registry carries risk and should be a last resort.

Recommended fixes, ordered by safety:

  • Run System Restore to a point dated before the association change. Open System Restore from the Start menu, pick a restore point older than the incident and follow the prompts. This is the safest way to roll back the change if a suitable restore point exists.
  • Use the PowerTools/repair utility mentioned by . That utility is commonly used to repair broken shortcut associations; verify the download source and scan the file before running.
  • If comfortable with advanced repairs: back up the registry (File → Export in regedit) and then locate the .lnk file-type settings and restore the Windows default association. Only proceed with registry edits if the backup is exported and a system restore point has been created first.

Quick troubleshooting and follow-up tips: create a fresh shortcut (Desktop → New → Shortcut to notepad.exe) to confirm whether shortcuts still open with IrfanView; if the association is fixed but icons look wrong, rebuilding the icon cache or logging off/on will usually clear stale icons. Avoid using “Always use this program” on unfamiliar file types in the future. If any step feels uncertain, the System Restore or the repair utility are the safest options.

Member Avatar for McLaren

this soft helped me.

Member Avatar for steven woodman

Just right click on a .lnk file, go to properties, under general tab you will see "opens with" with a change button next to it. Click change and select from list of programs which you would like to open with in the future.

you may also want to change the registry key [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk]. You may see some form like this @="lnk_auto_file", when you should be seeing @="lnkfile"

Caution when working with regedit!!

Edited by crunchie because: n/a
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