Can't open files

A friend left a garbled message on my telephone answering machine asking me
for help but I don't use Vista or iTunes, so I'm hoping some kind soul on
here can help.

Basically any file he downloads (it may be a photo of his grandson sent as
an email attachment in jpg format, or a program such as skype.exe, or a pdf
document) cannot be opened. When double-clicked, any downloaded file opens
up iTunes and presents the message "iTunes cannot open this file".

I know it's not much to go on but his message recorded badly. I'll try to
contact him and get more info but does anyone have any suggestions?

TIA
John

Hi, John.

I've never used iTunes and haven't used Vista in year or two, but until
someone offers a better idea, have him try this.

Control Panel | Default Programs... See which extensions (such as .jpg and
..pdf) default to iTunes and change them to something else (like Windows
Media Player) - or remove their defaults entirely so that clicking on them
does nothing.

When I download and install QuickTime, it always has the iTunes add-on
checked as well. I must remember to uncheck that option before accepting
the download.

Let us know how this works out for your friend. Your feedback might help us
help others with a similar problem.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64)

"John" <none@inuse.com> wrote in message
news:k-GdnVExq_xXzGPWnZ2dnUVZ8gidnZ2d@bt.com...
> A friend left a garbled message on my telephone answering machine asking
> me for help but I don't use Vista or iTunes, so I'm hoping some kind soul
> on here can help.
>
> Basically any file he downloads (it may be a photo of his grandson sent as
> an email attachment in jpg format, or a program such as skype.exe, or a
> pdf document) cannot be opened. When double-clicked, any downloaded file
> opens up iTunes and presents the message "iTunes cannot open this file".
>
> I know it's not much to go on but his message recorded badly. I'll try to
> contact him and get more info but does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> TIA
> John

Thanks for the help R. C., I'll phone him tonight and we'll see how we get
on with that.

Cheers
John

R. C. White wrote:
> Hi, John.
>
> I've never used iTunes and haven't used Vista in year or two, but
> until someone offers a better idea, have him try this.
>
> Control Panel | Default Programs... See which extensions (such as
> .jpg and .pdf) default to iTunes and change them to something else
> (like Windows Media Player) - or remove their defaults entirely so
> that clicking on them does nothing.
>
> When I download and install QuickTime, it always has the iTunes add-on
> checked as well. I must remember to uncheck that option before
> accepting the download.
>
> Let us know how this works out for your friend. Your feedback might
> help us help others with a similar problem.
>
> RC
>
> "John" <none@inuse.com> wrote in message
> news:k-GdnVExq_xXzGPWnZ2dnUVZ8gidnZ2d@bt.com...
>> A friend left a garbled message on my telephone answering machine
>> asking me for help but I don't use Vista or iTunes, so I'm hoping
>> some kind soul on here can help.
>>
>> Basically any file he downloads (it may be a photo of his grandson
>> sent as an email attachment in jpg format, or a program such as
>> skype.exe, or a pdf document) cannot be opened. When double-clicked,
>> any downloaded file opens up iTunes and presents the message "iTunes
>> cannot open this file". I know it's not much to go on but his message
>> recorded badly. I'll
>> try to contact him and get more info but does anyone have any
>> suggestions? TIA
>> John