Hi NG,
With O2000 on XP-Home SP2 I tried openening a file with an unusual
extension.
Knowing the file, using Windows Explorer to get there I then press
Shift+RightClick to open the 'Open with...' dialogue. Ok, this method is not
necessary anymore, I 've done that too many times :-)

The problem: Word is not in the list!
I renamed the file several times with different or no extension without
result.
Word only shows up (recommended) in the list if a file already has the .doc
(or .dot) extension.

From within Word there is no problem opening 'strange' files.
Reason: This is an old tric to quickly associate a filetype to a programme,
Word in this case.

Flip