Replace Notepad.exe

Jim Dailey

@Matthew-Reed

Install notepad++ somewhere else on your hard drive (c:\notepad++ will do).

Change your PATH environment variable: set PATH=c:\notepad++;%PATH%

Rename Notepad++.exe to notepad.exe

That should do it.

Matthew Reed

Currently notepad++ is installed in C:\Program Files\notepad++ (W10, 64 bit)

And I have updated the path to that location.

It seems that renaming the file is what causes the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion! :)

To test this I copied notepad++.exe to notepad.exe and kept it in the c:\Program Files\notepad++ directory.

It will not execute!

-Matt

Matthew Reed

ALso, I have been looking at the EXE file to see if perhaps I could change all the “notepad++” strings to just “notepad”.

And, I found dozens and dozens of funny quotes!

Like: Kids are like farts… you can only stand yours.

How do you turn these on?

-Matt

Claudia Frank

@Matthew-Reed

How do you turn these on?

type the word random, highlight it and press f1

Cheers
Claudia

Claudia Frank

@Matthew-Reed

what about using a hard link instead?

Cheers
Claudia

Matthew Reed

Thanks Claudia!

Weirder and weirder… If I create a hard-link named “testit.exe” it works. If I make a hard-link named “notepad.exe” it does not.

This has to be a windows thing. Something in windows is borking it up.

-Matt

Claudia Frank

@Matthew-Reed

So I assume that notepad.exe is on the list of “secure” applications.
Unfortunately I do not have any windows to play with it .
What I would do is to run sysinternals procmon to see what is really going on.
Maybe this gives a hint what needs to be done.

Cheers
Claudia

Scott Sumner

@Claudia-Frank

type the word random, highlight it and press f1

This is supposed to do something?..didn’t for me.

Claudia Frank

@Scott-Sumner
Hi Scott,

yes, it opens a new doc and writes one of the easter eggs into.

You did type the word random, didn’t you?

Cheers
Claudia

Scott Sumner

@Claudia-Frank

Ah, at some point I must have unmapped F1. Looking at a default install, F1 is tied to “About Notepad++”. Activating “About Notepad++” via the mouse (on the ‘?’ menu) (with random highlighted) invokes the Easter Egg functionality, so it appears it is tied to that function rather than only the keystroke.