File icons have changed

[contestcen]

I just updated my AOL desktop to a new version, and the icons for different types of files (e.g., htm, jpg, bmp) in the FileZilla file lists have changed. The icon for "folder" is still a file folder, but the icons for all the other filetypes are different. In particular, the icon for the htm filetype has changed to a blue pentagon with the letters AOL in white. Most annoying. Is there some way for me to fix this?

[boco]

That program you installed has associated itself to the file types in question. That has nothing to do with FileZilla at all, but is an OS-wide issue. You need to use the OS tools and restore the previous associations.

[contestcen]

I posted to the FileZilla forums because FileZilla is where the problem first appeared. Since then I have checked other programs and found that it also happens in AOL (or course), Paint and MyComputer, but does not seem to affect the browsers. Only the icons for htm, jpg and gif filetypes seem to be different. Your answer makes sense, but I don't know what "associations" are, or how to access or change them. (I was hoping that the file icons would turn out to be small jpg files that I could simply replace, once I knew what their names were.) Are "associations" simply entries in some list that I can modify with a text editor? That often turns out to be easier than learning some task-specific tools.

[boco]

The icons itself are unchanged. The program simply changed the default program these file types open with, and Windows uses the icon of the associated application.

how to access or change them

Right click such a file in Explorer and select "Open with..." (Older Windows may require holding the SHIFT key while right clicking the file). On modern Windows the Open with becomes a submenu if more than one association exists. In this case click "Choose default program...". In the following dialog window select your old program. Make sure the "Always open blah blah" box is checked and press OK. The icon should change back, then. Wash, rinse, repeat for all affected file types.

I was hoping that the file icons would turn out to be small jpg files that I could simply replace, once I knew what their names were.

We are talking about Windows here, right? The times of separate *.ico files are long over (used to be in the Windows 2.x and 3.x era). Icons are usually embedded into DLL, OCX or EXE files as resources and cannot be changed without special hacking tools.

Are "associations" simply entries in some list that I can modify with a text editor?

Again: We are dealing with MS here. The associations are stored in and modified through the Registry, in multiple places.

[contestcen]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I have made some progress. It seems that MS used to have a tool for this task, but it does not work under Windows 7 or later. I have downloaded a freeware tool called FileTypeMan (thank you, Nir Sofer!). This shows me that AOL has unilaterally co-opted the htm and html filetypes, changing them to AOLhtm and AOLhtml, and changing the associated icon. The FileTypeMan let me change the filetype descriptions reasonably easily. It would also let me change the icon, but that requires me to figure out where on my computer the correct icons are stored. I am looking into getting some icons from the net, but the places I've looked so far give you grubby ones free, and nice ones for a price. I may try creating my own icons using Paint, but what a lot of work just to get back to where I was before I updated AOL. What were they thinking???

[boco]

The icons itself have not changed, just the places they are loaded from! When you manage to restore the previous associations the old icons will reappear, too.