I imagine that the database for the online file association service for Windows XP has been lost to time, but for those who remember it: was it any good?

It seems like quite a good idea now -- if I remember correctly, Windows as of current seems to suggest a generic Bing search, which brings up all the spam "What extension is XXX?" sites.

That could have changed; I haven't really used Windows after 11's debut.

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reddalo 9 hours ago | parent [-]

If I recall correctly, it was pretty bad. It used to open Internet Explorer on this page: http://shell.windows.com/fileassoc/0409/xml/redir.asp?EXT={e... where {ext} was the extension.

Suggestions were vague and they only made sense with well-known filetypes.

There's a screenshot of how it looked here: https://protoweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/screen.jpg

	▲	varun_ch 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		this might be the only place where a redirection to bing provides a much better UX than what was there previously!
	▲	formerly_proven 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Today that page would be titled "Microsoft Windows Copilot File Associations" The more things change, the more they stay the same.