delete registered filetype extensions

[colore]

hello

why I cannot delete specific registered filetype extensions?

for example AVI cannot be deleted:

but AVS can be deleted:

and when I 'restore' AVI, then it can be deleted:

who can explain this ?

also, is there a speed advantage of deleting rarely used extensions? will the system run smoother?

thanks

[GrofLuigi]

It might have to do something with "EditFlags" in the registry (search for it).

On my system, I experienced a massive speedup after I deleted all unwanted file extensions. Proof? Verified with RegMon - everytime a file is double clicked, ALL file extensions are examined thoroughly (throughout all their entries). Obviously, if you reduce their number, you gains speed.

File extensions are used for determining what to do when you double click on a file, but usually they can be opened from inside the program that understands the file type (but not always). Also, there are some filetypes 'reserved' from the system to block you from opening them (that's legitimate, because you can do nothing useful with them: .pnf, .sys...). Also, on clean install of XP some Office extensions are reserved (yeah, that's monopoly ) like for word, excel, and infopath or publisher (I don't remember which). Some are reserved just for the icon. There are also many entries to print them with right click (what's wrong with opening them in their editor and printing from there?).

Now I'm not telling you to go blindly delete all you see, there are problems when the wrong button is pushed. Also, MANY programs re-register their types, so your efforts may be futile. And windows installer can pest you if it doesn't like what it sees (I've solved that, but will post it another time).

But I tell you, there is great speedup to be gained there.

GL

[Mt.Dew]

GrofLuigi, thank you for the information. I attempted cleaning this list some years ago and became frustrated when I encountered extension refusing to change. I look forward to the future posting. Knowing now that in fact the entire pool is scanned before a decision is made has invigorated me to take this endeavor on once again. How can you ignore such obvious gains in time saved? Your future post will be most helpful when I build my master list of extensions to keep.

Edited March 23, 2008 by Mt.Dew

[colore]

thanks

is there any program that will help us manage/edit this list?

[Mt.Dew]

I am unsure of any programs. What I was doing back in 2003/2004, was create a bat file. This bat file did many things for me at once, ranging from clearing out my most recently viewed documents, document history for various applications, as well as run registry commands and copying files from a stored location to overwrite main files to "clear" the system. As you can imagine, it took some time to develop the bat file to perfection, but once it was done, it was just a simple click from the quick launch and everything was the way I wanted it. The good thing about using the bat file was at any given time I could edit the bat file to exclude or include different programs. Also, having a pre-config'd bat file backed up made for a much faster tuning if a fresh install was called for. A lot easier to get to your desktop the first time and running that bat file to clear that file extension list with out having to do it manually on every format/install.

Edited March 23, 2008 by Mt.Dew