Articles about Open with

Windows 10 continues to live on, although it is now a ripe old age. Despite the looming end-of-life for the operating system, Microsoft has surprised users by continuing to add new features and options.

This is not the case with the new KB5039299 update, however. This is a non-security update which, Microsoft proclaims, "includes quality improvements". This is a cute way of saying it's a boring bug fixer, but if you've been affected by those bugs, it's an important update.

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If you uninstalled the recently released KB5036979 update for Windows 10, you may have experienced unwanted Open With dialogs appearing. While first spotted in Outlook for Windows, Snip & Sketch, and Teams, the problem affects other apps as well.

While there is not yet a fix for this irritating, semi-random pop up, Microsoft has acknowledged the issue. The company is working on a patch for the bug, and offers up some insight and advice in the meantime.

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Many of the changes introduced in Windows 11 have divided opinion, from the central Start button to the non-moveable taskbar. An upcoming change that is sure to go down well, however, is Microsoft decision to give the Open With dialog a much-needed overhaul.

As you know, when you double click a file in Windows, it opens in whatever the default app it is associated with is. The Open With dialog can be used to select an alternative app, and with the redesign, Microsoft is not only introducing a new look that is more in keeping with the Windows 11 aesthetic, is also making the dialog more useful.

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For time immemorial (almost), when you double click a file in Windows, it will open in the default app that it is associated with. It has long been possible to open files in something other than its default app, using the Open with option; but as anyone who has used this cumbersome menu can attest, this is far from being an elegant solution.

And so with the latest build of Windows 11, Microsoft is making some changes. As well as giving the menu a new look and support for light and dark modes, it is now easier than ever to change the default app associated with a particular file type. Here we show you how to enable it.

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