I recently had a problem with Windows XP. I needed to create a simple text file in a directory. However, when I clicked on File > New, Text Document wasn’t showing in the menu. Neither was Wordpad Document, or Notepad document.

I tried the registry hack to add this at TweakXP, but that didn’t help me. Then I tried installing Tweak UI for Windows XP and played with the Templates option in there. I added Wordpad Document, but it still didn’t show up at all when I went to create a new text document.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that I had recently installed a third party notepad program recently. I didn’t like it, so I uninstalled it. Could that have jacked up my file associations? I opened My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > File Types. Sure enough, that was it. Windows XP had lost file associations for TXT files.

I highlighted TXT in the list and clicked Change. I then selected WordPad. I then had the option for WordPad Document listed when I clicked on File > New.