(1) The relationship of one file to another based on the data it contains. (2) An established relationship between a file and the application used to open it. There are default file associations ...

Jeff Werner is a software engineer and has been writing this column since 2007. Question: With zero changes to my laptop, out of the blue of late, after opening several image files, all of which have ...

One of the more frustrating things I experience in daily usage of my Mac is opening a file that launches an unexpected application, which can sometimes result in a failure to open the file. Joe is a ...

Every file on your hard drive (.jpeg, .html, and the like) can be associated with a compatible program, which will open that file format by default. Some applications will change a format’s default ...

Jeff Werner is a software engineer and has been writing this column since 2007. Question: When I download any .pdf file it tries to open in word. I know I have some setting wrong. How do I change it?

When you double-click on a file in Windows 8, Windows will automatically open that file using a program that has been associated with that file's extension. There may come a time, though, that you ...

In the Mac OS it is possible to change the default program the operating system will use to open a file when you double-click on it. After you have changed this file association, though, you may want ...

I recently changed the file association for a subset of my video collection. Now, I've always assumed that that sort change registered itself on the OS level and that the file itself goes untouched.