The downside to this method is that it does not work properly with the official Notepad2 build there are a few minor changes that need to be made to Notepad2 in order for this to work (see my img_exec_replace patch).
#Original notepad download windows
The benefit to using this method to replace Notepad is that you will not run afoul of Windows File Protection (since you are not actually replacing the executable itself), and you can undo it at any time by simply deleting the registry key.
![original notepad download original notepad download](https://get.pxhere.com/photo/notebook-writing-book-wood-notepad-office-yellow-paper-page-material-note-write-blank-sheet-art-text-message-document-shape-list-notes-pad-lined-legal-pad-memo-plywood-notepaper-1336800.jpg)
This same trick is used by the "Replace Task Manager" function in Microsoft's Process Explorer. There is an easier way to replace Windows Notepad by using the "Image File Execution Options" registry key to trick Windows into running notepad2.exe whenever notepad.exe is run. Replacing Windows Notepad with Notepad2 can be a little tricky since notepad.exe is a protected system file, which makes a direct replacement a bit difficult (though not impossible). Pre-compiled 32-bit and 64-bit binaries of Notepad2 containing these patches are located at the bottom of this page.
#Original notepad download code
Note: These are source code patches, for people who want to create their own builds.
![original notepad download original notepad download](https://www.wizcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/notepad-font-options-e1622658341478.png)
Yet, despite its speed and tidy interface, Notepad2 sports a lot of powerful features, such as syntax highlighting, brace matching, tag completion, encoding conversion, code folding (with my custom build see below), and a variety of other useful tools.
#Original notepad download free
Aside from rivaling Windows Notepad for startup speed and responsiveness, Notepad2 also sports a clean, unobtrusive interface free of the clutter that often overwhelms the users of other text editors. Notepad2 has a small footprint and is very fast, even when used on very old machines the only other text editor that I have used that starts up as fast as Notepad2 is Windows Notepad. Most editors are either fully-featured but slow or fast but useless, but Notepad2 breaks that mould. This page was created as a way for me to share some of my Notepad2 resources.
![original notepad download original notepad download](https://pic.downloadastro.com/gallery/microsoft_notepad/install-microsoft-notepad-07.png)
I have been a user of Notepad2 for a few years it is the primary text editor that I use every day. Notepad2 is a free, open-source text editor created by Florian Balmer.