Win 7 "Default Programs" does not include MS Office 2007 Programs, the missing Programs are missing ICONs as well

Question

I installed Windows 7 in an upgrade from Windows XP.  As part of the process MS gave me a URL to download a Office 2007 Pro I could activate with the license key I owned.  I got similar URLs for Visio Professional and Project Professional. 
Downloaded, installed, activated, started the programs.
From the beginning some of the icons were missing.  Like the icons for Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Power Point, Publisher, Visio, and of course Project.  I tried most of the answers in this forum, that didn't sound like guesswork, and none of
them solved either problem.  There must be at least 65 guesses to fix the icon problem, but none with the missing Default Programs problem.
The programs related to the missing "Default Programs" still work, they startup when you select the related document.  If I check "Associate a File Type or Protocol with a Specific Program" the missing Office 2007 programs are listed
there, associated with the designated programs, but are missing icons.
I make it a habit not to pay a vendor for a product so that I can have the privilege of fixing the vendor's problems.   Google tells me these are well known problems.  The only thing missing is the answer.  I won't ever use MS chat or telephone,
because all they do is tell me why they can't help and transfer me elsewhere.
Does anyone have a REAL answer please?

Answer 1

To restore office icons you could try this method
http://transitionmarketing.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/restoring-microsoft-office-icons/
I had the same problem with Office 2010 programs not showing in "Set Your Default Programs". No other "fixes" (including repair) worked. Found this thread:
http://www.sevenforums.com/microsoft-office/222503-office-2010-not-listed-default-programs.html
and used it as a guide. When you look at this key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications
you will see a list of software pointing to another HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key. For example, my Word program was showing up as "Word.Application.14" and pointing to Software\Clients\Word Processing\Microsoft Word\Capabilities
(In contrast, PastorMike's fix in the link above advocates making a new entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Word\Capabilities. However, OneNote did appear in my "Set Your Default Programs" and it - and the other Office programs
- were listed under ..\Software\Clients\... and not ...\Software\Microsoft\...)
So at this point I went my own way (although maybe PastorMike's fix would also work).
The difference between OneNote and the other programs was the existence of values for "ApplicationName"  and "ApplicationDescription" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Word Processing\Microsoft Word\Capabilities. Also, for OneNote
there was a "FileAssociations" sub-key that was missing from the other programs.
It is setting the values for ApplicationName and ApplicationDescription which cause the program to show up in the list in the left pane of "Set Your Default Programs". And it is the file associations in the FileAssociations key that allows resetting
associations en masse when they are snaffled by another program.
Below is the reg file I added for Word 2010. (i used similar for the other programs) After doing this, Word appeared after reopening "Set Default Programs" - no reboot required
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Word Processing\Microsoft Word\Capabilities]
"ApplicationDescription"="Create and edit professional-looking documents such as letters, papers, reports, and booklets by using Microsoft Word."
"ApplicationName"="Microsoft Word 2010"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Word Processing\Microsoft Word\Capabilities\FileAssociations]
".doc"="Word.Document.8"
".dochtml"="wordhtmlfile"
".docm"="Word.DocumentMacroEnabled.12"
".docmhtml"="wordmhtmlfile"
".docx"="Word.Document.12"
".docxml"="wordxmlfile"
".dot"="Word.Template.8"
".dothtml"="wordhtmltemplate"
".dotm"="Word.TemplateMacroEnabled.12"
".dotx"="Word.Template.12"
".htm"="wordhtmlfile"
".html"="wordhtmlfile"
".odt"="Word.OpenDocumentText.12"
".rtf"="Word.RTF.8"
".wbk"="Word.Backup.8"
".wiz"="Word.Wizard.8"
".wll"="Word.Addin.8"
By using my ramblings and the link provided above you may be able fix the problem you are having with Office 2007. However, I am unsure of how to find the necessary file associations for Office 2007 except by trawling through your registry for the filetypes
listed in the link above and the values for them in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.