hi.... here is the original posting i sent followed by the solution which i
received ....

 hi... earlier today i was using the computer without any problems..a short
time later,for unknown reasons,i wasnt able to open any programs ... if a
clicked the desktop shortcut nothing happened and if i went to the programs
folder and clicked the exe file the program still didnt open...it only seems
to happen with exe files as i can unzip files,and open screensaver files...
if i click a jpg file it opens in compupic but if i go to the compupic
folder and click the exe the compupic program will not open...another
strange thing is that i can change the exe to .com and the programs will
open ....i didnt install or uninstall anything before this all happened...i
m using XP home edition....i did an online vir*s scan at the Trend site and
no viru*es were found...i also tried a system restore back two days without
success...any help would be appreciated...thanks...Gary Burke.

....now heres how the problem was solved in case others may have a similar
problem.......this is the message i sent back to the forum where the
solution came from....

 

hi... hang on everyone ... looks like the problem is solved...i checked out steve's suggestion and made a registry change ... in Hkey_Classes_Root under .exe i had a data value of ft000001 so i modified this to "exefile"... and when i now click a desktop shortcut the program pops open immediately...now i guess it would be asking for a miracle for someone to tell me how that value data could possibly change from "exefile" to "ft000001"...it sure is gratifying tho that i can have a problem and get such great help in such a short time from a wonderful group of individuals as you guys... it sure makes my computer experiences worthwhile when i know there are many friends out there who are always willing to help out their fellow cyberspacers.... thanks a bunch and a very Merry Christmas to all of you.....Gary Burke...Nova Scotia...Canada.

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
        programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column.
                       http://freepctech.com/rode