[Peter T. Daniels]

Can you right-click on a file name and get the "Open with" option?
These days, that will get you to a panel showing, or where you can
browse through, all the programs on your system, with a box at the
bottom to check for "Make this the default program for this type of
file." (I don't know how it was back in XP, though.)

On Apr 25, 5:18*pm, asallwey wrote:
I'm on a new-to-me laptop. The OS is XP, Office is 2000. When I try to
open a doc file with Windows Explorer, WordPad opens instead of Word.
And it usually has problems with the file. I run the same software
versions on my desktop with no problem. The document opens correctly if
I open with Word. This happens on any Word document. I don't see an
options in Explorer to make the default program for a .doc file Word.

What Happened? *Or, more importantly, how to I fix this so Word is the
default program for .doc files?

Thanks!

Alex

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asallwey