Whenever you open up a file in Windows that does not already have a registered file association, Windows prompts you, if you would like to specify a program to use to open the file or use a web service to find more information about the file type. Now, if you already know what that file is or don’t want to be prompted by Windows to select between the two options every time you open an unknown file type, then here is a simple way to simply disable the web service prompt.
This trick involves editing/changing a registry entry which will help you disable the web service lookup and bypass that prompt screen entirely. Instead you will be taken directly to the list of applications installed on your computer so you can open the file with an application.
First you need to open the registry editor, press [Windows Key] + [R] to open the Run dialog box.
Type in regedit and press the [Enter] key. Then you need to navigate to the following key below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new DWORD called NoInternetOpenWith and set its value to 1.
The next time you use Open With on a file, Windows will bypass the web service lookup prompt and take you directly to the application list to open the file with.
If you are not comfortable editing the registry, then you can download the NoInternetOpenWith.zip file to do the job for you. After downloading, open the archive and merge the NoInternetOpenWith-Enabled.reg file with the registry and you will be done. If you want to revert back to default settings, then use the NoInternetOpenWith-Disabled.reg file and merge it with the registry.
If you do use the Open With web service, then here is a more advanced open with service which might interest you:
About Mezanul
I wanted to get rid of the web service lookup and this trick saved me