How do I open this file?

For Windows XP, Windows Vista (32bit ONLY), Windows 7 (32bit ONLY)

If we had a dollar for every question we’ve received that starts out with “How do I open *.—– file type”, we’d be a lot better off financially than we are. But we don’t. But we do have a large number of emails asking how to open this file type or that file type. We understand the frustration. We can remember in the early days when we’d run into files that we had no idea how to open. What did we do? We didn’t open them. We grew up with the Web, in those days the Web was just starting and there wasn’t much available. Now it seems, there’s ten-times more stuff on the Web than anyone could ever use. That’s a good thing, it makes finding ways to open files that won’t open, a snap to open. And that “snap” just got a lot snappier.

We’ve found a little downloadable (free) tool that makes opening files that don’t have file associations easy. We’ll let the developer explain it below, and we’ll give you the skinny on where you can read more about OpenWith.org’s desktop tool. But first, pay heed, the developer is about to speak:

OpenWith.org Desktop Tool Instructions

This page explains how to use OpenWith.org to find free programs to open almost any file on your computer.

1) Download and install the OpenWith.org Desktop Tool on your computer.

2) Right click on the file you don’t know how to open, and left click on “OpenWith.org – How do I Open This?”

3) If OpenWith.org knows about that type of file, you will see a list of compatible programs. If you already have one of the programs installed, it will say Installed. If not, it will say Download.

4) Select the program you want to use. If you are unsure, you can double-click on each program for more information.

5) If the program you want to use is already installed, skip to step 7

If the program you want to use isn’t already installed, click on the Download link. The program will now be downloaded.

6) Once the program is downloaded, a new folder will open with the installer. At this point, you need to run the installer to install the selected program.

We don’t do this automatically, because a lot of programs have user agreements that they want you to read. After you install the program, you will see Download change to Installed.

7) Once you have selected an installed program, simply click ‘Open’ to open the file.

So now that you know how it works, you probably want to learn more and we’re sure you want to download it, right? Visit this page to learn more about, see screen shots of, and/or download “OpenWith.org Desktop Tool”. Yes, it’s free.