The file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action.

Whenever I try to play a dvd or a cd I am getting an error which says that "The file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the set Associations control panel". When i insert any disk the auto start menu also doesnt pop up and hwne i click on the cd or the dvd the same error appears again. Any ideas what can be the issue here?

Have you tried removing the CD/DVD drive from the device manager and restarting the computer? This way, when Windows will bootup, it will automatically recognize the device and then install the proper drivers for the drive. If this doesnt work then try to delete the upper and lower filters from the registry and see if that helps, for doing the same, please follow the steps given on this link - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060