Question: I recently had my computer hard drive replaced. Now, whenever I click on a movie file, it opens in Windows Media Player instead of RealPlayer. How do I get my movies to open in RealPlayer instead?
What you need to do is change the file association. In other words, whatever type of file you are trying to open is currently associated with a particular program (in this case Windows Media Player), and you want to associate it with a different one (Real Player) instead. The file type is designated by the extension, which is the 3 letters (or numbers) after the "dot". For example, if you double click on a photograph file named "birthday.jpg", then the program that opens up and shows you that picture is the program you have associated with the ".jpg" extension.
Let's say for example you want to view a movie file with the extension ".avi" (this is a common video file type). First, you have to find that file on your computer. But don't double click it - instead, RIGHT click on it and from the new menu, choose "Open with". Then, click on "Choose program". This will open a new window with a list of programs. You should see RealPlayer there. Click once to highlight it, then put a checkmark in the box that says "Always use the selected program to open this type of file". Then click OK. Your movie file will open in RealPlayer, and that type of file will open in RealPlayer from now on.
This week's video...I don't quite get the practical value of this skill, but he is obviously very good at it -
