I can't open most of my desktop files, adobe is set to open all files...help!!

[joshua0344]

At some point today i was trying to download a program, a box appears and it said what program do you want to use to run it, it had options and i selected adobe..i guess now that i think about it ,there was a box with a check inside of it that said always use this program to run...After i did that almost all of my desktop icons changed to the adobe picture and when i went to double click on the icon to open it, it read "adobe reader could not open "........." becasue it is not a supported file type..etc. So of course now ,i have no idea how to change it back to how my icons where before i messed everything up. How can i take adobe off that it's used to open all my files and desktop items? PLEASE HELP asap....i have no idea how to fix this and i'm afraid i will mess things up worst. This is my work computer and i really need to view my files..Thanks for your help!!

[JJ 3000]

Have you tried a system restore yet?

[joshua0344]

when i try to open my system icon, i box appears and say's" what program do you want to use to run it..i don't know what program to use.

[joshua0344]

Now i tried to open a file again, because i was thinking if i can get that message again that says "what program do you want to use to open this file".  Because below that message it has a box which is usually let up and it usually would let you put a check in it, but now it doesnt give me the option to check the box. I was thinking if i could do that i could permantly change what programs to use all the time...But even if i did that i don't know what programs to use to run my desktop files.

[JJ 3000]

Click Start then All Programs then Accessories then System Tools and choose System restore from the bottom. Choose "restore my computer to an earlier date" and click Next. Choose a date before the problem began and click Next. The computer will need to restart to restore.

[joshua0344]

when i got to system restore and i clicked on it ( it had a adobe picture on it) it opened with adobe and took me to a gray screen and gave me the same message as before. Could i uninstall adobe ,would that help me to at least get to the system tools so i can restore?

[joshua0344]

i just tried to uninstall adobe so i could at least get into system restore, but of course adobe was the program trying to run "program uninstall/removal'?? and it took me to the gray adobe screen again and gave me the same message" adobe reader could not open "........." because it is either not a supported file type or..etc...Don't know what to do now..thanks for your help

[joshua0344]

JJ---food for thought i just tried to open up adobe reader and it gave me the same meesage as it did on the other times i tried to open up a document. I don't know what that means, but there is some setting that is set to adobe..Can't figure it out.

[joshua0344]

My computer is still not working, cAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP. I need to know how i can remofile typeve adobe from being the program that runs all of my files. because evrytime i click on it..it takes me to a gray screen and adobe reader could not open "........" becasue it is eiternot a supported

[Allan]

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

[joshua0344]

Thanks for the link...but when i try to open it it asks me what program i want to open it with. So i am still at a lost...nothings has worked thus far...Any more sep by step suggestions any one could help me out with fixing this problem.....PLEASE HELP

[Allan]

After downloading the fixes try running them from safe mode.

[joshua0344]

how do you run them from safe mode

[Computer_Commando]

how do you run them from safe mode

Getting into Windows Safe Mode

[joshua0344]

it wont let me download it. once i click save and click on run it says " we can not verify publisher, then it prompts me to " what program to use to run it"....plus it looks like the fomat has changed to load and run any programs i try to download