How to set a Win7 default program

[Greg Goss]

I realize that this is off-topic here, but closer to on-topic than the
Starmaker crud, and you people know your way around Calibre.

I'm trying to tell Win7 that "ebook-viewer" that's part of
Calibre-portable in my dropbox is a suitable app to handle epubs, and
it flat-out refuses.

Somewhere along the way I accidentally set the association to acrobat.

I launch the set-associations control panel app, double click .epub
and click browse. I navigate to ebook-viewer and double click it.
I'm returned to the "open with" screen with only acrobat showing. I
click on the + and a bunch of programs appear, NOT INCLUDING
ebook-viewer.

Is there some reason why Windows refuses to associate this program
with a file type? Does a program need to be registered somewhere AS a
program before it can be associated?
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
news:dlrqdb...@mid.individual.net:

I'm guessing you're ending up in the same place, but I'm used to
right-clicking on the (.epub) file, going to properties, and on the
General tab, and clicking on the Change button towards the top
(labeled as "Open with:". I mention this, because I *know* this
works.

That gets you to the Open With screen, which I expect is the same
one you're frustrated with, from yourdescription. It should have
two sections, Recommended Programs and Other Programs (which is
probably blank until you click on the "+" sign in the top right of
that section), which is where you do _not_ find the Calibre ebook
viewer, yes?

If you look below that section, you should see a Browse button.
Click on that and it should open a file browser that will let you
navigate to the executable. Probably in "C:\Program Files
\Calibre2"\ (but possibly in "C:\Program Files (x86)" if you have
64 bit Windows but 32 bit Calibre). The file you want is ebook-
viewer.exe.

Assuming you are logged into Windows with an administrative
account, that should do it.

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Greg Goss]

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in

>> I'm trying to tell Win7 that "ebook-viewer" that's part of
>> Calibre-portable in my dropbox is a suitable app to handle
>> epubs, and it flat-out refuses.

...

>If you look below that section, you should see a Browse button.
>Click on that and it should open a file browser that will let you
>navigate to the executable. Probably in "C:\Program Files
>\Calibre2"\ (but possibly in "C:\Program Files (x86)" if you have
>64 bit Windows but 32 bit Calibre). The file you want is ebook-
>viewer.exe.

This machine is running 32 bit win7. I browse to the program (in
calibre-portable in dropbox) and double-click on that file. The file
browser goes away,but DOES NOT change anything in the "open with"
window. I click on the + and see the same list that does not include
ebook-viewer.

>Assuming you are logged into Windows with an administrative
>account, that should do it.

I'm an admin.

I can drag the epub from wherever onto the ebook-viewer and it
launches correctly, so there is nothing wrong with the executable.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in

news:dls16r...@mid.individual.net:

> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>
>>> I'm trying to tell Win7 that "ebook-viewer" that's part of
>>> Calibre-portable in my dropbox is a suitable app to handle
>>> epubs, and it flat-out refuses.
> ...
>>If you look below that section, you should see a Browse button.
>>Click on that and it should open a file browser that will let
>>you navigate to the executable. Probably in "C:\Program Files
>>\Calibre2"\ (but possibly in "C:\Program Files (x86)" if you
>>have 64 bit Windows but 32 bit Calibre). The file you want is
>>ebook- viewer.exe.
>
> This machine is running 32 bit win7. I browse to the program
> (in calibre-portable in dropbox) and double-click on that file.
> The file browser goes away,but DOES NOT change anything in the
> "open with" window. I click on the + and see the same list that
> does not include ebook-viewer.

I suspect it has to do with it being a portal install in a cloud
folder. Windows can tell whether or not a folder is removable (like a
CD drive), and doesn't always like .exe's in removable folders. Do
you have a local install available to check it with?

(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was routine.
Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine and
circumstances.)

[Greg Goss]

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>news:dls16r...@mid.individual.net:
>
>> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in
>>
>>>> I'm trying to tell Win7 that "ebook-viewer" that's part of
>>>> Calibre-portable in my dropbox is a suitable app to handle
>>>> epubs, and it flat-out refuses.

>I suspect it has to do with it being a portal install in a cloud
>folder. Windows can tell whether or not a folder is removable (like a
>CD drive), and doesn't always like .exe's in removable folders. Do
>you have a local install available to check it with?
>
>(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was routine.
>Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine and
>circumstances.)

I have done it with other things, like setting my video player to MPC
for a few dozen extensions. Whatever's odd is related to
calibre-portable's ebook-viewer.

It's not related to Dropbox. I copied the calibre-portable folder
into Program Files and nothing changed. I didn't expect it to.
Dropbox, to this corner of Windows, is just a folder sitting under
[username]. I'm thinking that programs that use an install process
must register as a program somewhere in the registry. A bare EXE
doesn't do that.

(removes calibre-portable from Program Files and does a normal calibre
install.)

Still bad. Regular install which ended up in Program Files still
cannot be associated with .epub.

[Greg Goss]

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was routine.
>Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine and
>circumstances.)

I did it on a previous machine, and again routine.

I'm now going through regedit, seeing what mentions epub.

Did you know that the Republic of the Phillipines contains the epub
string?

[Robert Carnegie]

On Monday, 28 March 2016 08:16:04 UTC+1, Greg Goss wrote:
> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was routine.
> >Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine and
> >circumstances.)
>
> I did it on a previous machine, and again routine.
>
> I'm now going through regedit, seeing what mentions epub.
>
> Did you know that the Republic of the Phillipines contains the epub
> string?

Also "hill" and "rep".

A silly thought - do you have installed or set, either
a utility (such as a security suite) which protects
against arbitrary assignment of handler programs, or,
a particular handler which jealously defends its own
associations?

I think that at least one Windows 8 or 10 update did
this wholesale, but that isn't where you are. Some web
browsers and media players also are insistent this way.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in news:dls41gFqi79U2
@mid.individual.net:

> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was routine.
>>Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine and
>>circumstances.)
>
> I did it on a previous machine, and again routine.
>
> I'm now going through regedit, seeing what mentions epub.
>
> Did you know that the Republic of the Phillipines contains the epub
> string?

I would imagine that any country with the word "republic" would, yes.

Just like "you can't have manslaughter with laughter."

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
news:8efd6584-8530-45b8...@googlegroups.com:

Interesting point. What *does* happen if you just double-click on an
.epub file? And what are you using for anti-virus?

[Greg Goss]

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
>news:8efd6584-8530-45b8...@googlegroups.com:
>
>> On Monday, 28 March 2016 08:16:04 UTC+1, Greg Goss wrote:
>>> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> >(Note: I have done what you are trying to do, and it was
>>> >routine. Whatever the issue is, it's specific to that machine
>>> >and circumstances.)
>>>
>>> I did it on a previous machine, and again routine.
>>>
>>> I'm now going through regedit, seeing what mentions epub.
>>>
>>> Did you know that the Republic of the Phillipines contains the
>>> epub string?
>>
>> Also "hill" and "rep".
>>
>> A silly thought - do you have installed or set, either
>> a utility (such as a security suite) which protects
>> against arbitrary assignment of handler programs, or,
>> a particular handler which jealously defends its own
>> associations?
>>
>> I think that at least one Windows 8 or 10 update did
>> this wholesale, but that isn't where you are. Some web
>> browsers and media players also are insistent this way.
>
>Interesting point. What *does* happen if you just double-click on an
>.epub file? And what are you using for anti-virus?

Along the way, I accidentally set Acrobat to handle this, then changed
it to Word to prove that I was allowed to change it. The Acrobat
setting was done by double-clicking on the calibre program then
pressing OK on the assigner program (which still was pointing to the
alphabetically first of the programs it THOUGHT might work.) So when
I double click the file, it once loaded Acrobat, then word. By
stripping all epubs out of the registry (except for the Phillipines),
it went back to asking me what to do with it.

[Greg Goss]

>Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in

>> A silly thought - do you have installed or set, either
>> a utility (such as a security suite) which protects
>> against arbitrary assignment of handler programs, or,
>> a particular handler which jealously defends its own
>> associations?

AV is Norton.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in news:dlu90mFd0puU3
@mid.individual.net:

>>Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
>
>>> A silly thought - do you have installed or set, either
>>> a utility (such as a security suite) which protects
>>> against arbitrary assignment of handler programs, or,
>>> a particular handler which jealously defends its own
>>> associations?
>
> AV is Norton.

Well, there's your problem. (Mind you, might not be in any way
related to the current issue, but nevertheless, what the hell are you
thinking?)

[Greg Goss]

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in news:dlu90mFd0puU3
>@mid.individual.net:
>
>>>Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
>>
>>>> A silly thought - do you have installed or set, either
>>>> a utility (such as a security suite) which protects
>>>> against arbitrary assignment of handler programs, or,
>>>> a particular handler which jealously defends its own
>>>> associations?
>>
>> AV is Norton.
>
>Well, there's your problem. (Mind you, might not be in any way
>related to the current issue, but nevertheless, what the hell are you
>thinking?)

The ex bought it for her son's computer; it came in a five computer
pack. That year hasn't run out yet.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote in

news:dluojk...@mid.individual.net:

So if you have a year subscription to batteries for a stun gun that
regularly shocked your testicles, you'd keep using it until the
year ran out? Norton is malware, in my professional opinion (and
Macafee is the same company now, as I recall). Bloated spyware that
breaks things. Fortunately, here at work, with our premier account,
we can order computers without all the shovelware crap
preinstalled, but when I get a computer with Norton or Macafee
preinstalled, I usually prefer to reinstall Windows from a blank
drive to make sure it's *gone*.

It didn't cost you anything. In fact, it actually reduced the price
of the computer. There is *no* reason to keep it. There are *far*
better antivirus packages available for free.

[Torbjorn Lindgren]

Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote:
>I did it on a previous machine, and again routine.
>I'm now going through regedit, seeing what mentions epub.

Google suggests it's an issue that some people hit, not limited to
Windows 7, no one is completely sure why.

The most common cause seems to be having the program name already
"registered" with a different and invalid path in HK_CR/Applications
but if that was the only requirement it should be WAY more common than
it is...

Still, I see several independent reports that correcting the path in
the Applications key (in this case that would be
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\ebook-viewer.exe\shell\open\command )
has solved it for them. If that doesn't work, probably it's the path
in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\epub_auto_file\shell\open\command that's wrong.

Another possible reason is if the permissions on any the registry entries
are wrong (IE doesn't allow changing), could be either of the ones
above or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.epub but it seems most can solve it
without having to dive into that mess.

Acrobat seems to show up as the previous owner on a significant number
of the people who hit this, so some version of it may be the ones that
causes the original "damage" somehow.

http://superuser.com/questions/91655/open-with-dialog-ignores-my-selection

[Greg Goss]

I thank you for looking into this for me. I think that the Adobe
[whatever Acrobat is called these days] gets picked is just because
it's alphabetically first on the list of programs that might be able
to handle the problem.

>http://superuser.com/questions/91655/open-with-dialog-ignores-my-selection

[Quadibloc]

I tried to Google your problem as well. One of the early hits was of someone
having a similar problem in Linux! Another, referring to Windows, ended up with
the querent stating that a registry clean with C-Cleaner corrected the issue.

I didn't find anything that provided real insight into the source of the issue,
however.

John Savard

[Peter Moylan]

This might or might not be relevant, but I discovered a couple of years
ago that de-installing Google Chrome (which at the time kept
re-installing itself by stealth) messed up the registry in a way that
stopped some other programs from working properly. In that case there
was luckily some information on the web on how to fix the problem.

It's possible that some other programmers are less than careful in the
way the deinstallation works.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[J. Clarke]

In article <XnsA5DA6B5D92D...@69.16.179.42>,
taus...@gmail.com says...

Horrors. You've actually said something with which I agree.

Far as I'm concerned the whole antivirus business is mostly a way to
sell software that nobody needs.

[William December Starr]

In article <XnsA5D8E1C0EDD...@69.16.179.42>,

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> said:

> Assuming you are logged into Windows with an administrative
> account, that should do it.

I still want to know what happened to "This is my computer, which is
mine." I fucking hate having to deal with shit like logging in and
"you can't do that because you aren't an administrator" and all that
crap.

-- wds

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

wds...@panix.com (William December Starr) wrote in
news:ng3nvj$q9c$1...@panix3.panix.com:

Then learn how to use a computer. It's not excatly difficult to turn
all that shit off. In fact, if you set it up right when it's new, it
defaults to off.

[lal_truckee]

On 4/30/16 7:00 PM, William December Starr wrote:
>
> I still want to know what happened to "This is my computer, which is
> mine." I fucking hate having to deal with shit like logging in and
> "you can't do that because you aren't an administrator" and all that
> crap.

Defeat the whole security effort by always logging in as administrator
or root. Just don'tmake any mistakes typingng.

[Dimensional Traveler]

That kind of security effort is almost always only applicable to a
corporate environment. Which is where MS envisioned the "Administrator
locking others out of things" being used.

--
Privacy IS Security

[Kevrob]

Also helpful when the computer's owners - Mom and Dad, say - have
others, like the kids, sharing the machine. If the kids know
more about the tech than the adults, though.....

Kevin R

[J. Clarke]

In article <301ec25d-df5c-463e...@googlegroups.com>,
kev...@my-deja.com says...

That the thing that always cracked me up about the "v-chip" proposal--
the parents wouldn't be locking the kids out of anything, the kids would
be locking the parents out.

[Robert Carnegie]

All that's there for a purpose. For a personal computer user,
it prevents your machine from being turned against you by
malicious contacts from the Internet - up to a point.
Let those in and you can bet it's not "your" computer any more.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in

news:3d777707-53b8-42eb...@googlegroups.com:

Odd how people who actually know their ass from a hole in the ground
don't seem to have that problem.

[Peter Trei]

On Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 9:35:37 PM UTC-4, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy wrote:
> Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
> news:3d777707-53b8-42eb...@googlegroups.com:
>
> > On Sunday, 1 May 2016 03:00:22 UTC+1, William December Starr
> > wrote:
> >> In article <XnsA5D8E1C0EDD...@69.16.179.42>,
> >> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> said:
> >>
> >> > Assuming you are logged into Windows with an administrative
> >> > account, that should do it.
> >>
> >> I still want to know what happened to "This is my computer,
> >> which is mine." I fucking hate having to deal with shit like
> >> logging in and "you can't do that because you aren't an
> >> administrator" and all that crap.
> >
> > All that's there for a purpose. For a personal computer user,
> > it prevents your machine from being turned against you by
> > malicious contacts from the Internet - up to a point.
> > Let those in and you can bet it's not "your" computer any more.
> >
> Odd how people who actually know their ass from a hole in the ground
> don't seem to have that problem.

Working without a net is certainly possible, and in some cases
makes sense (it boggles me that, for example, OSHA is ok with maintenance
workers doing 'free climbs' up towers). I carry my $700 cell phone without a case, but I've been carrying a phone or PDA for about 25 years, and have yet
to crack a screen (wish I could say the same for my kids; I do carry
insurance). I could also drive without a seatbelt (I've never had an accident
where it would help), but that would be stupid.

But there's a reason we have 'sudo', and win 7 and up run most people without
admin privs turned on, simply asking for them when needed.

I think you'll find very few professional linux users who run as root
by default. The chance of messing up may be low, but can be spectacular when
it happens.

The story of Gliffy is apropos:
http://www.eyerys.com/articles/news/gliffy-offline-71-hours-race-between-tortoise-and-hare

TL,DNR: A badly written script propagated 'sudo rm -rf /' to an entire cloud
of servers, potentially killing the company (eventually, they were able to
recover).

pt

[Greg Goss]

"J. Clarke" <j.clark...@gmail.com> wrote:

>In article <301ec25d-df5c-463e...@googlegroups.com>,
>kev...@my-deja.com says...

>> Also helpful when the computer's owners - Mom and Dad, say - have
>> others, like the kids, sharing the machine. If the kids know
>> more about the tech than the adults, though.....
>
>That the thing that always cracked me up about the "v-chip" proposal--
>the parents wouldn't be locking the kids out of anything, the kids would
>be locking the parents out.

I once sent my sister a humourous link. In the cover letter I told
her "You might want to play this when the kids are out of the room -
it's pretty racy." She answered "Sara [her thirteen year old] is
usually the one who forwards these things to me."

I boggled for a bit, but I've never raised kids. I would never have
sent dirty jokes to MY mother! At least not when I was thirteen.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Peter Trei <pete...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:0ee3ad85-39d1-4275...@googlegroups.com:

> On Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 9:35:37 PM UTC-4, Gutless Umbrella
> Carrying Sissy wrote:
>> Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
>> news:3d777707-53b8-42eb...@googlegroups.com:
>>
>> > On Sunday, 1 May 2016 03:00:22 UTC+1, William December Starr
>> > wrote:
>> >> In article <XnsA5D8E1C0EDD...@69.16.179.42>,
>> >> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> said:
>> >>
>> >> > Assuming you are logged into Windows with an
>> >> > administrative account, that should do it.
>> >>
>> >> I still want to know what happened to "This is my computer,
>> >> which is mine." I fucking hate having to deal with shit
>> >> like logging in and "you can't do that because you aren't an
>> >> administrator" and all that crap.
>> >
>> > All that's there for a purpose. For a personal computer
>> > user, it prevents your machine from being turned against you
>> > by malicious contacts from the Internet - up to a point.
>> > Let those in and you can bet it's not "your" computer any
>> > more.
>> >
>> Odd how people who actually know their ass from a hole in the
>> ground don't seem to have that problem.
>
> Working without a net is certainly possible,

If you believe that using an account without administrative
priviliges is the beginning and ending of "a net," then frankly,
you aren't qualified to have adminstrative priviliges. Or a user
account.

> I think you'll find very few professional linux users who run as
> root by default.

It has been my experience that most "professional linux users"
can't handle Windows. Whether this is willful ignorance out of
blind hatred - they subconsciously screw up on purpose to justify
their dislike - or simple incompetence, I don't know.

I do not that I don't have a problem with Windows with an admin
account. Nor do most of the 300+ people I support, though only
about a third of them regularly use computers without proxy
restrictions. Note: I work for a retail store chain. There are
maybe 10 people in the company that I would consider "power
users." Nobody with anywhere near my level of knowledge of
computers. The rest are the usual users for a retail environment,
from "can handle things most of the time" to "literally cannot read
an error message off the screen in front of them."