It??™s not a great
solution, but it may be effective in some circumstances.
The easiest way to back up your file types is to create Registry patches as
explained in ???Export and Import Data with Registry Patches,??? earlier in this
chapter. To make the backup effective, you have to include all the keys laid
out in ???Anatomy of a File Type,??? also earlier in this chapter. For instance, if
you??™re backing up the file type for plain-text (.txt) files, your Registry patch
should include all of these keys:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\text
That last one??”the one in the SystemFileAssociations branch??”is described
in the next section, ???Expand the Scope of Your File Types.??? And if you want
to include other related filename extensions, such as .log, .ini, and .csv (to
name a few), you??™ll want to include those keys as well.
So, if your file type associations for text files ever get wiped out, just doubleclick
your Registry patch backup to restore them.
But a slicker solution is to lock your file types by setting restrictive permissions
on the aforementioned keys as described in ???Prevent Changes to a
Registry Key,??? earlier in this chapter. That way, no application, no installer,
and not even Windows itself can change them unless you unlock them first.
If you want a shortcut, you can use File Type Doctor, introduced in the previous
section. Just highlight the file type you want to lock and click the Lock
button.
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