File icons display the paint icon and try to open through paint or "open with"?

[668]

A friend sent me an image through skype and it was a .Ink file. It told me I could not open the file, so I tried opening it in paint. This resulted in a good portion of the shortcuts on my desktop to change the icon image to that of the paint icon. Whenever I try to load one of these files, be it skype, google chrome, or a video game like League of Legends, my computer attempts to open these files through paint. This same error occurs in the files themselves as I then tried to open them through the start menu rather than the shortcuts. The images for the icons in the folders have been changed as well. Also, if I try to use the "open with" command and change to adobe (for example) instead of paint, all of the affected files change from the paint icon to the adobe icon. What do I need to do to fix this?

Ty for your time in advance.
my apologies, it may have been a .LNK file, it looked like an I on skype

[justme]

LNK files are shortcut files. or links to programs and/or data files. If you don't have that particular program or data file on your computer, it cannot open the link.