Opening a Microsoft Works Spreadsheet in MS Word

I switched OS from Windows 98SE to XP, and before I switched, I had to save my spreadsheet files in Notepad because I didn't have Microsoft Word installed. Now that I have transferred my spreadsheet files to my new Windows XP OS and now have my MS Word back, I don't know how to get my spreadsheet files to automatically open with MS Word...they still open with Notepad and come up in symbols. I can only get the spreadsheets to open in MS Word if I tell them to, but I don't want to have to go through this every time. Is there a way to get these spreadsheets to open in MS Word automatically?

what is their suffix ?

Try highlighting one and then hold down shift while you right click on it and select Open With.

Choose Word and make sure Always use this program to open these files is checked.

Voila.