Why aren't any programs opening on my computer?

Computer problems in opening programs?

• Our home computer (an HP with Windows Vista) is frequently used by my 12 year old younger sister, who came to me a few hours ago and said that none of the programs were working on it. Every time you click on a program to try to open it, The "Open With" dialogue box comes up with the list of recommended programs. I thought at first maybe she accidentally uninstalled IE or something. Nope. It does this for EVERY program. I am completely lost at what to do. All I know is that none of the programs are working, and neither is the System Restore option. Any thoughts/help/hints would be greatly appreciated.

• Answer:

  sounds like a virus of some type changed the file association of EXE file types. This was easy to fix in XP, a little more cumbersome in Vista. Scroll down to the vista section on the reference link, on a second pc. follow the instructions. When you're able to run system restore, go back a few days.