Aug132012

Is there a way to force ALL URLs to open with the default browser, regardless of the program in use?

Mike Brazil asks:

Somewhat frequently, a URL is somehow coded to open in Internet Explorer regardless of which browser is set as the default browser. I’m looking for a way to prevent this behavior such that, no matter which program sends the command to open a site, and no matter which browser it requests, the site is always opened in the browser I have specified as the default browser.


Browser: Explorer 8
System: Windows XP Pro SP3
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10 Answers -

0 votes

Tug Ricks

August 13, 2012

I’m not an expert or anything but I have an idea. (At least for Windows 7)

1. Start Menu
2. Type “default programs”
3. Select “Set your program defaults”
3. Choose your preferred browser and then select “set this program as default”

If you’re looking for something beyond this, I’m of no use to you. :)

0 votes

Bruce Epper

August 13, 2012

Install the browser you want to use as your default and set it as the default browser. Uninstall all other browsers on the computer. Since Internet Explorer has become an “essential feature” of the Windows OS, rename the iexplore.exe executable file to something else. WARNING: This will probably break other functionality.

0 votes

Mike

August 13, 2012

If the application sends an “open URL ***” command it should open in the default browser.

If the applications sends “iexplorer.exe ” I don’t believe you can stop it or redirect the request. Same goes for an embedded iexplorer frame within the application.

One would have to soft- or hardlink the iexplorer.exe to the preferred browser, make some changes in the registry or whatever which would most likely break some important Windows functions and features that rely on the iexplorer engine.

0 votes

Erlis Dhima

August 13, 2012

I think you should try this:
1. Go to:
Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs\Set Associations
2. Find .url extension
3. Click ‘Change Program’ (to the top-right corner)
4. Select the browser you want and click Ok

Hope it helps!

0 votes

Achraf52

August 13, 2012

If you don’t like Interner Explorer you can just disable it in programs and hide it’s mess, because Chrome rocks the speed .

0 votes

Suman Acharya

August 13, 2012

if any application is programmed to use internet explorer regardless of the default brower you have set, you can’t change it!

0 votes

GrrGrrr

August 13, 2012

looks like you are opening url in someother aplication. that application may be configured to use a browser other than IE.

pls tell application name.

0 votes

Mike Brazil

August 13, 2012

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions. What I’ve done is to uncheck Enable access to this program for IE in Set Program Access and Defaults. This seems to be working, and it’s cleaner than renaming or deleting iexplore.exe. There’s no need to uninstall any other browsers, since I’ve never seen anything open in any browser other than my default browser or IE.

0 votes

Hanamichi Kurotsuchi

August 15, 2012

easy to do, open a page on any browser , then save it, after saving go the file location ( there will be two files for the saved page, one is a folder another is html site ) right click on it , then go to properties > change the option of ” open with ” change it to the browser that you wish to open the link with it. that’s it.

0 votes

Amit Sinha

September 1, 2012

yes obviously that’s why there is a concept of default programs. Just set your favorite browser as a default one