On my computer I have Student Home and Office from Microsoft, and a week ago I download Open Office to see what it was all about as I had been recommending it to other people who didn't want to fork over "the big bucks" for Microsoft Office. The problem I am having is that if I open a .docx FILE or an .xl file from My Computer, the file will open in Open Office and not in Microsoft. If I open the FILES directly from Word or EXCEL, no problem. How do I keep Open Office from assuming I want to open a Word or Excel file in Open Office? Thank youWhat you want is called:
change file association in Windows 7
Here is one of many links:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-which-programs-Windows-uses-by-default

The above should be all you need.Thank you, Geek After Dark. You pointed me in the right direction and after a few false starts, I was able to make Word and Excel the default programs. I would thank you by clicking on the "Thank you" link, however, for whatever reason, that particular FEATURE no longer shows up on my computer. Well, I can you a than k just for trying.