If you have noticed a problem in the last few days – especially with opening Excel and Word files then you may have had an update that has mangled the default file associations. In this case its Office 2010 starter edition on Windows 7 that seems affected.
So how do I fix it ? Okay – open a folder containing an excel or word file. Right click and select open with. Then select “Choose Default Program” and select the Microsoft Office Client Virtualisation Handler. Now your icon for Excel or Word should be back to normal and the file should open when double clicked.
Repeat for each office file type affected.