I have 8 programs that won't work and say "they do not have a program association with it for performing this action". They say to "create an association in the folder options control panel".

You need to reinstall those program to make them work properly thats what you can do...

Windows uses "associations" as part of its object-oriented interface.

For example, after installing Adobe Reader, there will be an "association" created, such that everytime that you double-click on a 'PDF' file, then Windows will launch Adobe Reader.

Similarly, '.doc' files will be associated with Microsoft Word,
and '.xls' files will be associated with Microsoft Excel.

> create an association in the folder options control panel

That's the correct way to "add" or "delete" a specific association.

It's strange that you don't have an association already defined;
it could be the result of a computer-virus, namely, one that has deleted that association.