If you discover a file type on your system which you can’t open, then you’ll probably start searching the web for applications which might be able to help.
But while this will return plenty of information, it’ll probably take a while to sort through everything to discover your best options.

And so a better solution may be to try OpenWith Enhanced, which provides everything you need on your own desktop.

The program replaces the standard Windows “Open With” dialog with an extended version, so it’s easy to use. Just right-click a file type, and select Open With, or Open With > Choose Default Program.

When we tried this with an Excel spreadsheet (*.xslx), we first saw an icon for Microsoft Excel, which was installed on our test PC. The program then went online, though, accessed a constantly-updated database of the most commonly-used applications for opening this file type, and displayed the top five as alternatives: OpenOffice.org Calc, LibreOffice Calc, the Microsoft Office Excel Viewer, and more.

If this reminds you about LibreOffice, say, then hovering the mouse cursor over its icon will display a little more information. And double-clicking it opens a web page at the LibreOffice download page, so you can quickly grab and install a copy.

We do have a few issues with this scheme. In particular, it doesn’t always return the applications you might expect. The “Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher” was one of its suggestions to view our Excel spreadsheet, for instance (not a useful choice at all). And when we checked to see what it suggested for opening a PowerPoint presentation, LibreOffice was on the list, but for some reason OpenOffice.org wasn’t included.

Still, OpenWith Enhanced did supply at least some useful recommendations, most of the time. And it also provides a couple of useful extras, in the ability to remove particular file associations and types, or manage their Open With menu options, making the tool a handy free extension for most Windows PCs.