In the One Step Further section at the end of the chapter in the book, the Process component is introduced. It's a great explanation! Read it and do the example before reading this part of the lesson.
Finished? Good!
First, there is at least one more way that you can start a program in VB.NET. Those of you upgrading from VB 6 might remember using Shell to kick off another program. News Flash!It still works in VB.NET.
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Shell("c:\windows\notepad.exe")
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You can also use it at the VB.NET Command Window prompt if you happen to need to pop up a copy of some favorite program (like Notepad).
The book suggests that the Process component can be used with any "application or file extension you specify is recognized by the system". But what are those app's and files? Well ... the system recognizes these files because they're "registered" - in other words, a reference to the file extension, where the program is on your system, and what it can do, is contained in your system Registry.
But you don't have to look inside the Registry to see what they are.