Hello Peter:
first of all, i cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read my long venting and rather confusing post 
you ARE awesome!
so, i am sorry to say that i, as of yet, have been unable to unweave the tangled mess in my head ... re: the whole Default Program and Associate File Type thingy ...
i suppose in not really knowing what questions to ask ... due to my ignorance re: OS's in general and such i've been unable to find an end to the means or the means to the end ... ??
so, sometimes in life we must just know when to let go ... and w/that i used the "Refresh" option w/in my laptop and it reset my puter to pretty much the day it came outta the box
i am totally unaware how i managed (probably by the grace of some computer deity 
that decied to have mercy), but after the Refresh process and my having reinstalled everything
when i went to my Pictures folders and clicked on an image Windows Photo Gallery did open them for preview ...
and when i went to InDesign ... unlike before, when i Alt + 2x's clicked on an image a dialog opened with a list of applications to use to open the image!! YEA!!!
i am just so sorry that i do not seem to have an actual answer for others that may be experiencing this problem. however, if i am ever able to piece things together i will certainly return here to share what i have learned.
the nice man at Microsoft still has my head spinning as to why he thought i would need to Associate each and every type of file format with each and every application. not to mention that he couldn't answer me as to ... if a file type is set as a Default to be opened by say ... Photoshop ... would this prevent that particular file type from being opened by every other program/application. 
i will continue my quest and luak (let u all know) what i find
be well and take care everyone. i hope all of you know how much i appreciate your time