Monday, November 2, 2009

How to Change Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera or chrome as default browser

Computer default browser is one which will automatically use to access Web pages if you click a link from a source outside browser. Or in other word default browser is used to describe the URL and file associations that determine which web browser is launched when you open an Internet shortcut or HTML file or when you click a link in a mail application like Thunderbird or Outlook Express. That is from Microsoft Word, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, acrobat reader software you click a link and then the webpage will be loaded into computer's default browser.

Be aware that MSN Messenger and many other applications may be "hard-coded" to open Internet Explorer, no matter which browser is set as the default. Also, many Internet service providers softwares' may automatically launches Internet Explorer.

So to test the default browser on your windows environment go to

- Type regedit in the run window and enter.
- For .htm file, Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.htm\OpenWithProgids
- For .htm file, Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.htm\OpenWithProgids
and check the default browser key.

In the following sections it is described how we can make a specific browser as default browser.

Change Internet Explorer to Default browser
Step 01: Open Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Step 02: Pull down the Tools menu and select Internet Options.

Step 03: Select the Programs tab.

Step 04: Click the box next to "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser" and click OK.

Step 05: Close Internet Explorer.

Step 06: Reopen Internet Explorer. A window will appear asking whether you'd like Internet Explorer to be your default browser.

Step 07: Click "Yes" to change your default browser from Netscape to Internet Explorer.

Change Netscape to default browser
Step 01: Search for the file "prefs.js" in the directory in which Netscape Communicator is installed on your computer.

Step 02: Open prefs.js in Notepad or another text editor.

Step 03: Look for a line in the document that says "user_pref("browser.wfe.ignore_def_check", true)".

Step 04: Delete the word "true" and type "false" in its place.

Step 05: Save the changes to the document and close it.

Step 06: Start Netscape. A window will appear asking whether you'd like Communicator to be your default browser.

Step 07: Click "Yes" to change your default browser from Internet Explorer to Netscape.

Setting default browser from Control Panel:
You can set the default browser in Windows 2000 (SP3+) Windows XP (SP1+) and Windows Vista using the "Set Program Access and Defaults" feature (renamed "Set Program Access and Computer Defaults" in Windows Vista).

Based on the operating system you can get the Set Program Access and Defaults option in the following way.

On Windows 2000: "Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Set Program Access and Defaults"

On Windows XP: "Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Set Program Access and Defaults -> Custom"

On Windows Vista: "Start -> Default Programs -> Set Program Access and Computer Defaults -> Custom"

Expand the section and under "Choose a default Web browser" select the radio button as you want as default browser and then select ok.

You are done!

Related Documents
http://arjudba.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-chrome-problems-checkbox-and.html
Posted by Arju at 9:06 PM Labels:
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1 comment:

Randy Hawai said...

awesome.. hi nice blog..

November 5, 2009 at 4:39 PM

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