How to Replace the Notepad in Windows XP

Replacing Notepad with a better text editor is easy with a few simple steps.

Microsoft Windows Notepad is a free program that comes with all Windows systems. Notepad is a small text editor that allows users to write notes to themselves and save them in a common text format like RTF or TXT. If you have a better text editor that you would like to use over the Notepad, you could start to get annoyed when Notepad always boots upon opening the file. Replacing the Notepad isn't very hard with a little bit of knowhow.

Things You'll Need

• Windows based PC
• Additional text editor program.

Instructions

Changing The File Association

1. Click on the "Start" menu in the lower left hand side of your computer screen. Click on the "Windows Explorer" tab.

2. Find a text file that you would like to open. A text file will have the file extension of TXT on the end of it.

3. Right click on the text file that you have chosen and then click on the option to "Open With" to open the "Choose Program" menu.

4. Choose the text editor program that you would like to use instead of Notepad.

5. Click the "Always Open With" button when prompted to replace your Notepad with your better text editor. Click on the "OK" button to finish the replacement.

Uninstalling Notepad

1. Click on the "Start" menu and choose the "Control" panel option.

2. Navigate your mouse over to the "Add/Remove Programs" icon and double click it.

3. Choose the "Notepad" icon and click on the "Remove" button.

4. Click on the next box to confirm that you want to remove the software application from your system.

Tips & Warnings

• You can always reinstall Notepad from your Windows system disc.

References

• Microsoft: How To Change File Associations
• Microsoft: How To Uninstall Programs From Your Computer