Here is a solution that has worked for all of the applications I have encountered 
which steal file associations (not guaranteed to work for everything of course):

1) First, go ahead and let the program steal the association, this makes it easier 
to edit.
2) In any Explorer window, go to Tools->Folder Options (menu item), then the File 
Types tab.
3) Select the extension for the file in question.
4) Click the Advanced button near the bottom right corner.
5) In the dialog that appears, you will see a list of actions ("open," "print," etc.)
6) Create a NEW action (that is, click "New..." and name the action something that 
isn't already on the list). Set up this new action to use the application of your 
choice.
7) Once the action is created, use the "Set Default" button on it so that your action 
name is in bold.
8) Use "OK" to close all the dialogs.

It seems as though this works because, apparently, applications neglect to check 
the default flag.  So for example, if you were to edit or remove the action that 
the program was using (let's say it puts "open" there), then the program would put 
it back (or overwrites your changes to it) whenever it wants to steal your file type, 
BUT, I haven't encountered an application yet that actually sets that default flag. 
 Since the default is the item that will be executed when you double-click, this 
effectively claims the file type back for you.  (You might not be able to get an 
icon change to stick though.)

In the event that this doesn't work for a particular application, these steps at 
least will place your action on the right-click menu, which you can use as a last 
resort.

• Reply or follow-up to this message

• Search this forum
• Start a new thread on a different subject

• Report abuse of the forum