You’d think Windows would have some sense, but that was my first mistake! You know the “Open With…” option? Well, I opened one pdf with Windows Viewer, and not has it changed the file to a different extension, it has converted the attachment of origin! AND! It now thinks ALL my pdfs are to be opened with Windows Viewer! HELP! How do I stop this? 
Grrrr! I swear…
I doubt it’s changed anything except the icon (and this only because the file association has been changed).
To resolve:
[ul]
[li]Put a PDF file on your desktop (i.e. don’t open it directly out of an email)[/li][li]Right-click it[/li][li]Select Open with>Choose default program[/li][li]Select the viewer you want[/li][li]Check the ‘Always use’ checkbox[/li][li]Click OK[/li][/ul]
The other option is to find the Default Program list. On my version (7?) it’s right in the Start Menu. I think it’s in the control panel in other versions.
From there, find the button that says “Set your default programs”.
From there it’s been too long since I’ve played with that. I’m not sure if you’ll have to select PDF viewer as the default way to view it OR go to Windows Viewer and tell not to open PDF files by default anymore (which would give you the the dialogue box back).
What is “Windows Viewer”? I am not aware of having any such program on my (Windows 7) PC. A search via the start button doesn’t find it either.
I’m thinking he meant Internet Explorer. I think IE can open PDFs.
Probably the “Windows Photo Viewer”, the default preview program.
I don’t think it can unless you have the Acrobat plugin installed. Many systems come with it, though, and PDFs will open directly inside IE, making it seem like it has native rendering capability.
I think only Chrome and newer versions of Firefox have built-in viewers.
To confirm, yes I meant Windows Photo Viewer. While I am aware it probably just changed the icon, in every way the file acts like an image - not the higher quality appearance presented in Adobe Reader…and cannot be played with in Adobe Professional. (It’s akin to if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck kind of thing.) I just wanted to clairfy, for now. Let me try suggestions in this thread. I’ll report back!
I’ll try this again. I’m pretty sure it turns all Adobe icons instantly to Windows Viewer Images. I know when I print to Adobe, it takes longer to create the pdf…which is created with the Windows Image icon, not a pdf icon.
OK, I have found the following:
a) It seems the “Open With…” has a dangerous check box where the default is “checked” for “open all files with this program”. A very bad default! Why didn’t Microsoft default to the option with the lesser impact!?!
b) Yes, it HAS changed the file, not just the icon, because there is no going back to Adobe. The PC thinks it is now a jpg file…so I guess I am screwed in this regard as far as hoping to get back my original pdfs. :eek:
c) URGENTLY, this all feeds into why I need to find some why to break this cycle as I work with a lot of PDF files! :smack:
Let me look into the properties under “Programs” and “Control Panel” next.
In the meantime, keep those ideas coming! 
Jinx, what you’re describing sounds highly improbable. Windows Photo Viewer can’t open PDF files to begin with. Programs that CAN open PDFs don’t typically automatically convert them to JPEG, even if they’re able to do so – that’d make no sense.
Are you sure the files you got were PDFs to begin with? Where did you get them from? You can email me a few of them if you’re not usre.
OK, OK! I found the stinking solution! It’s the hair of the dog that bit me! The help and wisdom of the SD Masses got me there! You all very close and/or maybe I was misunderstanding your directions. If some of you were saying this, my apologies for not seeing the light…for the solution lies along the very same path that sent me astray! To convert back, one DOES go down the same path right-clicking on an image icon one wishes to convert back to a pdf. Then, choosing the “Open With…” option, simply UNCHECK the check box* and click “OK”. My file opened as a pdf! And, all icons returned to the PDF icon. Whew! I think I am back to normal…if ever I was! 
Yes, they were pdf files to start with. The “Open With…” feature did make my pdfs act as jpg files. At that point, Paint could have opened these files, or one might insert into a Word document as images. I assure you the apparent conversion can be done. Now, I say “apparent” because, well, perhaps it is my interpretation of the error message that recognizes the file is in the wrong format (from pdf to jpg). Adobe won’t open a jpg, and Windows Image Viewer won’t open a pdf…but you can switch between the two using the “Open With…” option.
I hope that better explains what I kept running into. With that frame of mind, it seemed like all my pdfs would stay as jpg files. (I am also biased in the sense that I know Apple handles images much better than the non-Apple world does.) So, my interpretation of the error message was that it cannot be undone. Yet, I did find the trick (see post above).
OK, glad you figured it out.
When you tell the PC to open your PDF files with a viewer/program/app with Picture Viewer/Word/IE/Mozilla/MediaPlayer, your PC will try to open the PDF’s with the specified viewer/program/app, how successful this is, depends on how good the selected viewer/program/app is to open PDF files.
This does not mean, that your PDF’s are suddenly MP3, JPG or AVI files – it just means that the program you are using is a program that is made for opening MP3, JPG or AVI files and is made to believe by YOU that PDF files are the same as MP3, JPG or AVI files.
It does not matter if it’s a Mac or PC – you tell the computer how to do it, the computer will do it, the way YOU want it, if that works or not is another matter.
When you pick a CD, it may contain Data, Video or Music – but just because it’s round and has a hole in the middle, does not mean, that you can use it as a spare Tyre for your car, even though you might be able to select the CD to be used as a Tyre. You might even be able to mount it on your car, but you won’t get far with a CD as a wheel and neither did the CD automatically transform into a Tyre – it’s still a CD.