Unable To Remove From Open With List

To All:

After a limited response from my posts to
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support and
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, I am posting here.

I am running WinXP SP1 with all of the latest updates from MS Windows
Updates.

I am unable to remove applications from my Open With Lists by editing the
Registry in the standard manner because:

1) the applications appear in the Open With List, but do NOT appear in the
standard Registry key or
2) the application reappears on it's own in the Open With List after I
remove it from the standard Registry key.

I am using the standard method that I have used for 3 years on my PC at work
running Win2000. The method is described in:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 258860
How to Remove Programs from the "Open With" List

which requires editing the following key(s)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileExt
s\.extension\OpenWithList

where extension will vary according to the extension that you want to edit.

Please note that certain MS apps can be found in the Open With List for a
given file extension but can NOT be found in the standard Registry keys:

For example, The Open With List for .html files is:

Mozilla
Internet Explore
Notepad
Wordpad

The resulting exported .reg files (as in-line text) a

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html]
"PerceivedType"="text"
@="MozillaHTML"
"Content Type"="text/html"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.html\PersistentHandler]
@="{eec97550-47a9-11cf-b952-00aa0051fe20}"

and

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileEx
ts\.html]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileEx
ts\.html\OpenWithList]
"a"="MOZILLA.EXE"
"MRUList"="a"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileEx
ts\.html\OpenWithProgids]
"htmlfile"=hex(0):
"MozillaHTML"=hex(0):

respectively.

Because I have an excellent programming editor with syntax highlighting
(UltraEdit32), I do not need Notepad or Wordpad cluttering up my Open With
List for html files. The same problem applies for other file extensions
too.

In another example of .txt files, I can remove the string value for Notepad
or Wordpad from:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileEx
ts\.txt\OpenWithList]

ONLY to have both of them REAPPEAR again in both the Open With List on the
right click menu and in the above Registy key.

If I remove a NON-MS application string value from this key, then it remains
removed.

It is apparent to me, that somewhere else in the Registry, there is a
setting to ALWAYS FORCE the MS applications to be in the Open With List,
even if I do not want it there.

How to I fix this so that it does not happen again?

Thank you,

Steve