I’ve never been to South Central Los Angeles, the mean streets of Baltimore or Detroit, or the back alleys of Ames, IA but I experience turf wars everyday when I log onto my home PC. It seems every time I install a new software program, it insists on becoming the default program for opening up files of a certain type. If you’re like me and suddenly have Google Earth opening up Powerpoint presentations or are trying to update your resume through Windows Media Player, take these few steps to change the default program.
The main conflict I had was when I installed OpenOffice so that I could read the proposed changes to our Fantasy Football rules that my friend who didn’t have Word sent over. I literally do 99% of my typing in Microsoft Word and for two years Open Office would automatically start when I clicked a .doc. I couldn’t take it anymore and found out the answer to my problems was actually a pretty easy fix.

Make Microsoft Word The Default Program

1. Go to the start menu in the left-hand corner and when the menu appears, click on Control Panel.
2.  Click on classic view in the left menu. This will show you the icons as shown below.
3.  Double-click on the default programs icon.

4.  There will be four choices, click on the second choice that says associate file type or protocol with a program. See the screen shot below.

5.  Now another window will open with a list of file extensions to choose from.
6.  Scroll down the list until you find the .Doc extension and the .Docx extension for the newest Microsoft word file types.
7.  In the screen shot below I have found that .Doc extension and have made it blue by selecting it.

8.  Once you have selected your file type, press on the change program button at the top right.
9.  Now you can choose which program you want to open that particular file type. If you cannot see the program you want you can click on the are browse button below stop

10.  Browse for your programs .exe file and then press ok.

Here is another way to make Microsoft word the default program when opening a .Doc file:

You can make Microsoft word the default program by manually going and finding the executable file for Microsoft Word. This is the file that starts the program. It will be contained in your C drive, program files, then a Microsoft office folder, then another office folder depending on what version you have.
1.  The first thing you need to do to make Microsoft Word the default program is find any .doc file or .docx for 2007+ on your hard drive.
2.  Right click once on the file and select open with from the menu that drops down. See the screen shot below.

3.  You can choose a program to open that file. If it is not there press on browse to find your program.
2.  Browse through your C: Program files directory until you find the program winword.exe.
3.  I had to go to C drive, program files, Microsoft office, office 12, then I found winword.exe.

4.  Make sure you check the “make this the default program for opening files of this type’ box and your troubles are over…until the next time you install new programs in your hood.

Notes on how to make Microsoft word the default program:

• This is an easy way to stop programs from clashing.
• If you do not solve this problem you will be continually slowed down with your work.

I have shown two ways to make Microsoft word the default program so it should not matter what operating system you have, this should work for you.

How to Set Up the Ultimate Online School Browser

By Shennandoah on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 | 1 Comment

When preparing for another year of school, setting up the ultimate browser for your online school studies probably isn’t near the top of the To Do List. However, not doing so may well increase study time, reduce study effectiveness, and increase research time and effort.
Browser Basics
The platform from which the ultimate online school browser extends is, of course, the browser itself. The three most popular today are Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox; each has certain advantages and disadvantages compared to the others.

Internet Explorer is the default browser in most computers, IE’s biggest advantages are that it’s fully compatible with each Windows operating system, and no additional action is required for updates review, download, and installation. Its biggest disadvantage to extensive web surfers is that Microsoft allows cookies by advertisers without the user’s knowledge. Cookie control is supposed to be user-oriented, but with IE, that control is limited. Spyware and adware can easily slip in and track exact browsing habits and patterns. Read the rest of this entry »

How to extract mp3 audio from an AVI video file using a free program

By Mitz on Sunday, January 9th, 2011 | No Comments

In the early days, to extract MP3 audio from an AVI video file, you would have had to have been a professional with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. However nowadays anyone can perform this intricate task. In fact extracting MP3 audio, or any audio in fact, is a common task performed in every household today. Who would have thought that a simple home computer could do video editing, audio editing, special effects, and more.
I am amazed every day at what a computer has enabled us to do in our homes. It has changed the way we do things dramatically, and will continue to do so. In this tutorial I will show you how to extract MP3 audio from an AVI video file using a free program called Any Video Converter. I have also previously written a post about extracting audio from video using camtasia studio which is not a free program.

What do you need to extract MP3 audio from an AVI video file?

1. You will need to download a free program called Any Video Converter. You can visit our freeware section for a link to the download page.
2. You will also need a video to import into this program and extract the MP3 audio from.

How to extract MP3 audio from an AVI video file using Any Video Converter?

After downloading your free program, any video converter, open the program to start this process.
1.  Press on that add video button at the top. See the screen shot below.

2.  Browse for your video file on your computer.
3.  Choose your video by selecting it and making it blue.
4.  Press on the open button at the bottom.
5.  Your video is now imported into any video converter.

6.  Make sure the box is ticked next to your video.
7.  Now we will choose a profile to convert to.
8.  In the right corner of the program press on the small drop-down arrow to see your choices.
9.  As you can see in the screen shot below, I have chosen MP3 audio. This will extract MP3 audio from my video file.

10.  Now to start the conversion to MP3 simply press on the convert button.

Watch this video to see how to extract MP3 audio from an AVI video file

Notes on how to extract mp3 audio from an AVI video file using a free program:

• To extract MP3 audio from an AVI video is a simple procedure. When you have finished you can find your file that you produced by going to the menu at the top of any video converter. Press on the file menu at the top and choose open output folder.
• There are many programs to extract MP3 audio from video, however they are not all free. This program seems to work well, and it also has an option to upgrade.

I hope you have great success when you extract mp3 audio from your AVI video file using this tutorial.