from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q162059/
1. Open My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu (or the View menu), click Folder Options (or click
Options).
3. Click the File Types tab.
4. In the Registered file types list, click the specific Office document
type (for example, Microsoft Excel Worksheet), and then click Advanced (or
click Edit).
5. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click to clear the Browse in same
window check box (or click to clear the Open Web documents in place check
box).
6. Click OK.

"Jeff" wrote:

currently the file is opening in html, then i save it as a text file, then
manually open Excel and finally open the text file and then the file opens
in csv format. this used to happen behind the scenes then I received a new
computer. i am sure there must be a switch that needs to be toggled but at am
at a loss as to what that swithc might be. any ideas?