XnView Software

Hi.
I see there are numerous complants about XnView not being able to set file type associations right, and I'm about to enter the club.
Using the latest version 2.0.5 for about a couple of weeks, and when I installed it I have set the desired file types. Just today I noticed that *some* of the file types are not associated with XnView, but with Windows image viewer. Namely PNG and few others.
I tried to remedy this from Xn itself, to no avail, the file extensions still open with Windows' viewer. I'm using the Administrator account, but running the program with Run as Adminitsrator, has the same effect (or the lack thereof). The OS is Windows 7 Enterprise x64.
I had to use the Control panel - Default programs - associate file type with .... widget to set the few image files to open with Xn. No other program on my PC had this problem ever. I have hundreds of programs (a stable workstation).

Another issue is the description for file types for which Xn lacks custom icon. XnView has custom icons for the most common image types like JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP etc. but when I registered it with few others, they get their description in Explorer randomly from any of the previously non-associated extensions' description. For example RLE, WDP... They were all named for example "RLE file" in explorer (RLE, WDP and all others). Using Nirsoft's filetypemanager tool I changed one of these extensions' description to its extension (selected RLE and changed to "RLE file") - which resulted all other files got this description. This is partly understandable - they all use one common file type in the registry, so I named them "XnView file".
But this should have happened in the first place, and not all those files be named "RLE file" or something like that.
Also I tried to associate Xn with .apng, but nothing happens, the apng is not in the list of registered extensions, I guess this has to do with the first problem because the APNG extensions wasn't even registered before.

Thanks.

tedych wrote: Using the latest version 2.0.5 for about a couple of weeks, and when I installed it I have set the desired file types. Just today I noticed that *some* of the file types are not associated with XnView, but with Windows image viewer. Namely PNG and few others.

Do you have used Option>Associations>Windows file associations?

No. I used the control panel - default programs to set file associations directly, and it worked as i said.
But now I see another problem.
After I opened the button you talk about, it presented a list of preselected extensions seemngly currently associated with Xn. The checkboxes are all dimmed and undeselectable, so it was useless.
I see some extensions now that I Never selected for Xn to open - PSD being one of them. PSD is not selected in the settings - Associations, nor did I ever want it associated with anything else than Photoshop.
What the heck...
In all other programs I open a settings dialog, select the desired extensions, Ok and that's all that always worked.

However I find XnView the best image viewer out there (otherwise I wouldn't be using It), its file associations routine/functionality is a mess. I never choose things like "associate with all supported extensions", but choose to select independently.
I cannot tell otherwise, but I spent hours troubleshooting XnView's file associations to associate the desired files and not others. Now I see I have to reassociate the PSD and few others I had not selected to open with Xn. I was using an old 3 year version (1.96 or something) and i don't remember to have had such problems.

Edit: here's the screenshot of the window after I click the button you've reffered to.
There are many extensions I've never selected to open with Xn, nor in the xn's settings->associations list.
Also you can see all extensions that lack their own definitions as file types, are labeled "XPM Image" - All of them received the description from the last from the list - the xpm extension. I don't know what's going on and now I'll have to spend more time to fix these things.

Strange, do you use the setup or ZIP package?

First, I want to appologize a bit. I was a bit affected by this last discovery of PSD and few others being stolen by XnView. I just fixed them and restored them to their original owner and hoping to persist. I have the feeling these were screwed up after I clicked the Windows File Associations... button in Xn's settings dialog (where I saw way more extensions than previously have seen in Control Panel - Default programs - Set your default programs - XnView -> set custom exts....), but who knows.

No, I always use the Standard EXE installer version. My Windows is running with the Administrator account (not a named account with administrator privileges). It's been so forever, since 2004 when I installed Win2003 Server for the first time .
As a side note - the other day I added few additional extensions to Potplayer - right in the settings dialog, I marked them, hit OK and it was everything alright.
In Xn when I Iooked again just before restoring my PSD and other exts, I saw PSD being selected in Xn's own settings dialog, but I had never selected it. I first deselected it there and it was back in photoshop's ownership. So were the others I had never selected. My UAC was always disabled, from day 1.
Just to reiterate, as i said, no other program is screwing up their associations, there is some bug in Xn regarding that. Moreover the same random description for non-custom extensions (with no custom icon present) - in my screenshot it is XPM Image for all non-standard extensions like RLE, XBM, XPM etc, it's seen in the shot. I fixed this as well, to XnView Image, either via the registry in HKCR\XnView.Image's Default string, or via nirsoft's FileTypeMan tool.

Also, for some mysterious reason, the JPG, JPEG, JPE types, the description changed to "JIF Image" as seen in the shot as well. I fixed this too, in the XnView.jpg registry branch (through the filetypesman).

Ok, right, i can confirm the problem with 'Windows file association'

Thanks.
Now, 2 days later, I find associations are still Ok and persisting. I keep most of my programs (incl. Xn) open for weeks and months, and XnView endures 5-6 months without restart just fine with no issues for me. So it is very stable.
I update non-critical software relatively seldom and I hope the next time when I decide to update Xn, there won't be such problem . By non-critical I mean software which is not directly involved in internet activity as browsers are, or dealing with critical external (internet) data.