The Wrong Program Opens
As noted in Chapter 5, the way documents are linked to the programs that can open them is very different in Mac OS X than it was before. Some documents have invisible, four-letter type and creator codes that tell them which programs they "belong to." Other documents lack these codes, and open up in whichever program recognizes their file name extensions (.doc or .txt, for example).
Section 5.5.4.1 shows you how to choose which program opens a certain document (or kind of document). But that's not much help when you double-click a text document and have to sit there while SimpleText opens up—in Classic, mandating a 45-second wait.
The simple rule to remember here is that creator codes override file name extensions. In other words, a file called Contract.txt generally opens in Mac OS X's TextEdit—if it doesn't have a four-letter creator code behind the scenes. If that same file has SimpleText's creator code (ttxt), however, it opens in SimpleText (and Classic) no matter what its file name is.
The quickest solution may be to strip away the type and creator codes. You can do that by dragging the troubled files' icons onto a program like Wipe Creator (available from this book's "Missing CD" page of www.missingmanuals.com). At that point, Mac OS X has only the document's file name extension to go on when choosing a program to open it.
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