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+---- Thread: Changing ‘default’ APPS in WINDOWS (/Thread-Changing-%E2%80%98default%E2%80%99-APPS-in-WINDOWS)
Changing ‘default’ APPS in WINDOWS - Hugh Wallington - 04-17-2026
Changing ‘default’ APPS in WINDOWS
Every file on your computer has an ‘ending’ eg. .mp3 (audio); .mp4 (video); .wav (audio); .jpg (image); .doc (document); .pdf (document) etc. and this tells the computer which App to run the file with. I remember a time when they sold computers and hid those endings as they reckoned they were confusing the average punter by showing them. I know because I bought one! But this was even more confusing as you would end up with two files with the same name and not knowing which one to click on!
When you click on a file and press Enter .. or double-click on a file .. the computer will first launch the program (App) associated with the ending and then pop your file into it. The App it launches has already been decided, either by Microsoft (or by you), and is the ‘default’ App for all files with this ending.
If you want the computer to run the file with a different App you can force the computer to do this by right-clicking on the file, choose Open with and click on one of the Apps in the drop-down box that appears.
If you want a different App to open all your files with a particular ending on a Windows computer/laptop you can make this App become the ‘default’ App by going into the Windows Settings.
Click the Window Icon in the bottom left hand corner of the screen .. this is where you go to turn the computer OFF (when you ‘hover’ over it it says Start).
Click on Settings.
In the next screen you need to click on Apps.
The one you want next is Default apps.
This is what you see.
Scroll down on the right and you’ll see this.
Note that my Web browser is Google Chrome.
When Microsoft send me updates they keep trying to switch me to their own Browser .. Microsoft Edge.
I don’t want to do that, but should I fall into their trap I shall go to Settings, click on the Web browser showing and choose the Default one I want from the drop-down box.
Click on Choose default applications by file type.
This is what you see.
File Endings on the left, and the Default Apps that will run them on the right.
There are hundreds of them!
Numbers first, and then letters .. in alphabetical order.
You may remember that to read PDF files I was using the PicoPDF App.
This was the ‘default’ for reading PDF files, as indicated by the symbol on the left.
But I was not happy with the quality of the images from PicoPDF so have switched to PDF24 for my work on extracting songs from Albums. My objective now is to switch my Default App for reading PDF files to the PDF24 Reader. So I need to scroll down to the ending .pdf.
The best way of doing this is to grab the ‘bar’ on the right and drag it down until I get to .pdf.
This is what I see on the right hand side of the page ...
... but as I move over to the right it changes to this ...
... so I can grab it and pull it down. And keep going until I get to .pdf on the left.
Click on PicoPDF PDF Editor and I get a drop-down box with a choice of other PDF Readers .. and I choose PDF24 Reader.
Click the 'X' in the top right hand corner to Exit 'Settings'. Your changes are already 'saved'.
So now my list of PDF files looks like this, with the PDF Reader icon showing down the left as the ‘default’ launcher.
Hugh