Annoyed by the 'Use the Web service to find the correct program' dialogue box when opening files?

When opening a file with an unknown extension, Windows Vista will ask you if you want to 'Use the Web service to find the correct program' or 'Select a program from a list of installed programs'. Although using the web service can be helpful, nine times out of ten I find that I want to just select the program myself.

Tired of always being faced with this screen when opening unknown files?

To prevent Windows Vista from showing the dialogue box, you will need to edit the registry. Please note that editing the registry incorrectly can damage your PC, so if you are not comfortable with using the registry, or if you are happy enough clicking through the dialogue box when opening unknown files, then it would be best to leave this tip alone!

Use this tip to jump straight to this screen

Make sure you've backed up your registry, and then open up the Start menu and type in regedit.exe into the search box. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. If this key does not exist, create it by right-clicking on an existing key and selecting New > Key.

Create a new 32-bit DWORD value on the right-hand side with the following values:

• Name: NoInternetOpenWith
• Value: 1

If you want the dialogue box back, just set the value to 0 or delete the key.