Hello forum, I have a strange problem with my desktop PC, every application opens in notepad. THis just started suddenly but not sure what caused it.

It is almost like someone went in and set all .exe files to open with notepad.

If anyone has ever seen this please respond. I am hopeing I dont have a virus but it sure looks that way.

Try running this to ensure that its not a virus thats already on your system preventing you from installing an anti-virus:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/


if that doesn't fix it

do a system restore back a few days to a time before this started to happen.

You can also download exefix_xp.com from here: www.winhelponline.com/exefix_xp.com

This will restore the .EXE file association (it will work in Windows Vista/7 as well).

Once you do that, definitely run an antivirus scanner as DSgamby suggested.