I am using KDE 3.5, and in both Konqueror and kdesktop the *.desktop files show up as text files and show the extension, and will no longer work as application shortcuts.

I've tried to edit the filetype association, but it doesn't open it with anything. I've looked at root's filetype associations (which doesn't have this prob..) and it is the exact same.

EDIT:::::::::
Thanks, don't worry about this thread anymore. I reinstalled the operating system because kde was destroyed. Just for your information, it is not a good idea to ignore package dependencies, install rpms for other distros, or anything else that may be considered stupid... thats probably what lead to this, and a 1000 other problems..