Quote I just installed PhotoDirector 18. It changed some of the file type associations without asking. The most annoying was changing .dat file type to video file. I think this behavior should be changed. Installation process should ask before changing the file type associations. Other programs ask before changing file type associations.

FYI this is a user forum, and the people at Cyberlink likely won't see anything posted here. The best way to bring your concerns to their attention is to use Rate Us & Provide Suggestions under PhD's Help menu.

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Quote I just installed PhotoDirector 18. It changed some of the file type associations without asking. The most annoying was changing .dat file type to video file. I think this behavior should be changed. Installation process should ask before changing the file type associations. Other programs ask before changing file type associations.

This is an annoying practice from many software where I uninstall something and then have to go to the settings and change the file associations. If something major is to be installed I notice that in win 7, a system restore point is generated in case you want to use it. Do not see that at all in a win 10 pc that I have access to.

Sure that you meant PhD11 and not 18. I too have many typos on this keyboard when I type too fast and then have to edit it later. LOL.

Quote


This is an annoying practice from many software where I uninstall something and then have to go to the settings and change the file associations. If something major is to be installed I notice that in win 7, a system restore point is generated in case you want to use it. Do not see that at all in a win 10 pc that I have access to.

Sure that you meant PhD11 and not 18. I too have many typos on this keyboard when I type too fast and then have to edit it later. LOL.

I apologize. It is PHD11, not 18. I mistyped it.

Quote

FYI this is a user forum, and the people at Cyberlink likely won't see anything posted here. The best way to bring your concerns to their attention is to use Rate Us & Provide Suggestions under PhD's Help menu.

I contacted CyberLink support and said exactly what I had posted here. I have attached their responce below. Their support people are very unprofessional and it looks like they have no knowledge about their own products.

Hello S Malik,

I must admit ignorance of .dat file associations, until now. I have PhotoDirector installed on a number of PCs & checked the file associations on each one. On 3 out of 4, as you suggested, .dat file types were defaulted to PhotoDirector 8. On one of the PCs, it was associated (by default, not through my action) with a media centre/home theatre app called Kodi, which I'd only installed for testing a video issue.

Once I uninstalled Kodi, that PC defaulted to PhotoDirector 10 for .dat files.

As others have suggested, it can be annoying when software, or Windows itself, alters file associations on installation or update without the option for user intervention.

In my Default Apps settings, under .dat, there are no other options than PhD, as there are for many other file types. That suggests to me that PhD is the only software installed that makes use of it. Perhaps optodata or tomasc might be able to shed some light on this?

From the limited reading I've done, it seems that .dat files are generic data files created & used by an application. e.g. on this PC .dat files are generated by many installed applications... ZonerPhoto Studio, ProDAD Adorage & Microsoft Edge. Oddly, not a single .dat file I checked can be accessed by PhD!

PIX PIX YouTube channel

From what I've seen, I agree with PIX that there isn't a default app associated with .dat, even though that extension is used by many different programs for internal settings and data. Since you noticed that PhD 11 changed the setting, I think the easiest way to reset it would be to run the installer of the original app again to re-associate .dat (and all other file types) files with it.

Another approach would be to look at the Choose default apps by file type option on the Default Apps page of Windows' Settings menu, and you should actually see the other program listed, even though it only shows PhD 11 on my system:



You would have to do that for all other file typoes that were "hijacked" by installing PhD.

Failing that, you can use the registry editor to find and delete this single key, which will at least prevent PhD from opening any .dat files:



YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote From what I've seen, I agree with PIX that there isn't a default app associated with .dat, even though that extension is used by many different programs for internal settings and data. Since you noticed that PhD 11 changed the setting, I think the easiest way to reset it would be to run the installer of the original app again to re-associate .dat (and all other file types) files with it.

Another approach would be to look at the Choose default apps by file type option on the Default Apps page of Windows' Settings menu, and you should actually see the other program listed, even though it only shows PhD 11 on my system:



You would have to do that for all other file typoes that were "hijacked" by installing PhD.

Failing that, you can use the registry editor to find and delete this single key, which will at least prevent PhD from opening any .dat files:

Usually programs ask you before associating file types.

Quote Usually programs ask you before associating file types.

It's certainly nice if they give you that option, but it's not a Windows design requirement and there will always be some programs that don't.

Also, I saw that you had contacted support and weren't happy with their response. To my knowledge, this is intentional behavior and support won't be able to "fix" it on your computer, which is why I suggested using the feedback channel so that your concerns would be heard by the appropriate people.

Cyberlink probably won't issue a patch just for this, but it might make it into the next update as long as they're aware of the issue.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote Also, I saw that you had contacted support and weren't happy with their response. To my knowledge, this is intentional behavior and support won't be able to "fix" it on your computer, which is why I suggested using the feedback channel so that your concerns would be heard by the appropriate people.

I would think that Maliek deserves better. This reminds me of one of my early contact with support about PD17 issue where the dude did not know, ask for proof., then apparently lied to me to cover up and gave his incorrect response. I continued using my previous version software but found a workaround much later that was posted in the FAQ for an older version that worked.

I find that over the years when there are problems to find or do workarounds and believe that this forum allows users to post answers on ways to do things without first contacting support. Dat files are not associated with software on my win 7 pc. That may be because my many games, MS office, AMD video drivers, logs, all use .dat files. Uninstall of my last application must have removed the .dat file association.

Quote I would think that Maliek deserves better.

I agree. I wish that contacting CL's tech support was a much better experience than what many people seem to encounter, but since PhD is currently designed to overwrite the image default app settings without asking, there's nothing they can to to "fix" the issue.

That's why I suggested using the feedback channel in hopes that the appropriate CL people would see how the issue affects end users, and then possibly add that change to the next update.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote

I agree. I wish that contacting CL's tech support was a much better experience than what many people seem to encounter, but since PhD is currently designed to overwrite the image default app settings without asking, there's nothing they can to to "fix" the issue.

That's why I suggested using the feedback channel in hopes that the appropriate CL people would see how the issue affects end users, and then possibly add that change to the next update.

I have been reporting this since PhotoDirector 6. I have reported this using the feedback channel within the program and to their support. Looks like they don't want to fix it. I have Photoshop Elements, ACDSee, VLC media player, and some other photo/video-related programs; all of them give an option when it comes to associating file types. Most CyberLink support centers are in India. Whenever I report this issue, the first thing they ask is for remote access to the PC that has PhotoDirector installed. I don't understand why that's necessary at all.