Sometimes a file won’t open in the application you want for it. Normally, you might use the Open withcommand in the file right click menu when you click on a file.

However, if the action you want isn’t in that list, there’s always the Sendto menu.   It’s also in the right click menu for files.

The Sendto menu in Windows is a handy place to store links to all sorts of applications or actions that you rarely use. It used to be easy to add items to the Sendto menu in Windows 9x and Windows XP. Since the arrival of Vista and Win7, it’s gotten a little trickier. I’ll show you one way to do it.

The items in the Sendto menu, are actually links stored in a folder labeled Sendto. The Sendto folder used to be located in the Documents and Settingsfolder under each user name. In Vista and Win7, it’s buried deeply in the Users\Yourname\AppDatafolder, which is normally a hidden folder.

One way to get to AppData quickly is to use the Runmenu, by holding down your Start button and tap the Rkey. Then type in %appdata% and click OK.

Next you’ll have to dig down even further. Go into the following folders under AppData.

Roaming \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Sendto

Now you can see the shortcuts in the Sendto folder. It’s a simple matter of copying or creating shortcuts in this folder in order to see new items listed in your Sendto menu.

The first shortcut I normally add to the Sendto folder is Notepad. Some other apps that you might use there are Paint and WordPad. For the webmasters among you, I’ve also written up a tutorial on adding a Sendto FTPlink.

Not only can you add shortcuts to applications, you can also add shortcuts to folders, drives and network locations. You can even add shortcuts to batch files that will perform specific actions on files.

Sendto is a flexible feature that can serve you well, once you learn it’s secrets.

[Windows Only] Filetype Manager by NirSoft is a free application that can help you change the icon associated with a specific filetype.

The tool can be downloaded from the NirSoft website. After you have downloaded the tool, unzip the pack and double-click the executable file to start the  application. As the application starts, it will automatically scan and list all kinds of filetypes that are present on your system.

You can search for a particular filetype by pressing the key combination Ctrl + F. As the search window opens, type in the extension of the filetype and hit Enter.

Once you have found what you were looking for, right-click on the item and select “Edit Selected Filetype”. You can also press F2 to open the editing window for the selected filetype. Refer the screenshot below to see how you can change the file icon for the chosen filetype.

Techie-Buzz Verdict

The freeware is a nice utility that brings back the Windows XP folder options feature with many other options included within. Apart from changing icons you can also open selected filetype in regedit.  It works perfectly in Windows 7 and Vista. Since the tool is portable, it can be used on any PC straight away without any installation. I recommend this tool as an easy solution for changing filetype icons.

Techie-Buzz Rating: 4/5 (Excellent)

Files have the .prc extension can be of different types, the 3 major types of files which end with the .prc extension are:

• Multimedia slideshows created using Corel Presentations.
• Installer package for Palm OS
• eBook file that include DRM protection which can be viewed on the desktop, PDA or devices like Amazon Kindle.

As these files could be of different types, it is hard to tell which application will open it unless you try it with multiple applications.

DAE files or Digital Asset Exchange files are 3D image files which are used to exchange digital assets between multiple graphics programs based on COLLADA (Collaborative Design Activity).

There are several programs which can open DAE files including AutoCAD, Maya and so on. If you are looking for a more simple way to open DAE files you can download DAE Viewer, an application created using Adobe Air.

You will also have to install the Adobe Air framework in order to make use of the DAE Viewer.