Vista RTM default program bug + workaround

utorrent does not properly register as the default program for opening .torrent files. this leads to two annoyances:

1) every time you open utorrent, it will ask whether it should be the default torrent program. clicking "yes" or "no" has no effect.

2) firefox can't figure out how to open .torrent files from websites, forcing you to manually point it towards utorrent.exe every time.

workaround:

1) in windows explorer, click the "organize" button.

2) click "folder and search options"

3) click the "view" tab

4) click "show hidden files and folders"

5) close windows explorer

6) open windows explorer (i think there's a bug in vista where explorer doesn't properly refresh the folder tree)

7) you should see the folder "AppData" in the "Desktop : [username]" folder.

8) navigate to "AppData : Roaming : uTorrent". there you should see all your .torrent files.

9) right-click any .torrent file and click "Properties"

10) you should see the line "Opens with... Windows Shell Common". click the "Change..." button.

11) click "Browse..."

12) find utorrent.exe and click OK three times.

this will force the .torrent filetype to be registered with utorrent. NOTE: problem #1 wasn't fixed until i restarted vista.

finally, let me just add that in general vista is much better than XP about managing which filetypes are opened by which programs. there's even a link to the "Default Programs" menu right on the start menu. hopefully, this will be the end of eight-way tug-of-wars over common filestypes like .mpg.

right-click -> Run as Administrator

utorrent then will be able to set itself as a default program..

never had any problems,cause i didnt unistall xp b4 installing vista,i just upgrade y window xp t vista and everything for utorrent just work as normall.

it doesnt matter if u upgraded or not.. it just works..

why so many people have problems then?

how many? those are not exactly problems.. vista has new security settings and utorrent cant register itself as a default program for torrent files the same way unless u run it as administrator at least once..

that's not a problem.. firefox does the same thing.. foobar does it.. same goes for a lot other programs..

that's just a minor glitch

They've introduced a big (overcomplicated) thing called SPAD in vista that lets you set per-user default application control, to cope with UAC. I don't know if you can set them on a per-user basis in the registry now, you couldn't before.

uTorrent needs to implement this or request administrative access through the windows API for it to be Vista UAC compatible. All of this is well documented on MSDN.

I have a similiar prob. When I open utorrent, I get a window saying utorrent is not the default ....blah blah bla... Then before I have a chance to click anything, it crashes and I get a window with the option to close program, or, go online to find a solution. Which doesnt solve a damn thing! Heres the details of the error report:

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: utorrent.exe

Application Version: 0.0.0.0

Application Timestamp: 44a7efe9

Fault Module Name: StackHash_8d13

Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Offset: 00000000

OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.3

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Information 1: 8d13

Additional Information 2: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

Additional Information 3: 8d13

Additional Information 4: cdca9b1d21d12b77d84f02df48e34311

Any help would be geat guys. Thanks in advance!!