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WordPad some how became my default application to open .docx files. I know I could just change the default, but, I wanted to make it be gone forever and never have the possibility of annoying me again. But.... there doesnt seem to be a way to uninstall it.

I've looked in:

Please help me escape Microsoft's iron fist.

Andrew
  • 399

2 Answers2

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Under no circumstances should you ever tamper with an operating system's native files,

However I too hate the Windows Wordpad bs, so here's my fix. Navigate to 

C:\Windows\write.exe

And delete the file. Then also navigate to

C:\Program Files\windows nt\accessories

And delete both wordpad.exe and WordpadFilter.dll (might be a good idea to delete the en-US folder as well)

EDIT: Some folders worth deleting:

C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-wordpad_(blah)
C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-wordpad_(blah)
C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-wordpad.resources
C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-wordpad.resources

Note that to delete these files you may need to grant yourself Admin+ permissions to these files: To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Right click the file/folder
  2. Select "Properties"
  3. Navigate to the "Security" Tab

  4. Scroll down the "Group or user names:" list, and find:

    Users (your-desktop-name-here)

  5. Take note of this group's name

  6. Click advanced at the bottom of the tab
  7. At the top of the page, where it says "Owner: TrustedInstaller", click Change.
  8. Enter "Users", then hit Return
  9. Now hit apply at the bottom of the screen.
  10. You can now delete the file!
David
  • 505
0

Open Regedit.exe and go to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications

Export the branch to a .REG file.

In the right-pane, right-click Wordpad and choose Delete.

Windows won't associate .docx automatically with Wordpad from now on.

Note that this won't uninstall Wordpad.. only de-registers it from Default Apps.

w32sh
  • 12,379