Problems with Default Settings

I have a Windows 7 laptop, and accidentally changed the default settings for all programs.

Now all of my files and programs seem to have been changed to word documents, and they do not open. I cannot even open the internet any more in order to find a solution (I'm on a different computer at the moment). I have tried opening files using different methods, but for some reason, it seems to request that I download something. If I click 'open' it opens a webpage, which then closes before loading.

If anyone could offer me some help, and tell me how to go back to my original settings, that would be great. If possible, I would like as much detail as possible.

Solution 1:

This sounds like a virus,

Download this REG file and run it,

It is quite safe to download and run and they apply changes to your Registry. Restart your system and everything should be back to normal.

This should re-associate the file extension to the default value, then scan your computer with the latest version of Avast, Avira or AVG Antivirus and for good measure do a full scan with Malwarebytes.

To reset ALL file associations, download this ZIP file (source), extract the files to a new folder and run them one by one, or if you're really smart you might make a batch file to run them all in once like this.

Open Notepad and paste the following code:

rem @echo off
cls
SET folder=%~dp0
for %%i in ("%folder%*.reg") do (regedit /s "%%i")
echo done
pause
EXIT

Save as run.bat and select all files from the Drop-down box