Setting Mozilla as your default web browser

• Instructions if you have Windows XP SP1 or Windows 2000 SP3 or higher
• Instructions if you have a previous version of Windows
• How to prevent Internet Explorer from becoming the default browser

Due to security concerns with recent vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Computing and Network Services recommends that you use Mozilla as your default web browser. Follow this procedure to set Mozilla as your default browser from within Windows. After following this procedure, most hyperlinks that you select from within other programs will open in Mozilla rather than Internet Explorer.

Please note that a small number of web sites may not work with Mozilla as the designers of those sites have chosen to make their site compatible with Internet Explorer only. While this issue affected a significant number of web sites several years ago, the situation has improved dramatically since. Nevertheless, their are some web sites that may require you to use Internet Explorer. Computing and Network Services only recommends that you use Internet Explorer for these specific instances only when you trust the site, and does not recommend Internet Explorer for general browsing for security reasons.

If you have Windows XP Service Pack 1 or later or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later, use "Set Program Access and Defaults"

1. Open the Set Program Access and Defaults control panel by clicking on Start, pointing to All Programs and clicking on Set Program Access and Defaults.
    
2. The Add or Remove Programs window will appear. Click the arrows next to Custom.
    
   
    
3. Click the checkbox for Mozilla for default web browser and Mozilla Mail for default email program. Click the OK button when finished.
    
   

If you have Windows 98 or previous versions of Windows 2000 and Windows XP that lack "Set Program Access and Defaults," set your default browser from within Mozilla.

1. Open the Mozilla web browser and then select Preferences from the Edit menu.
    
2. Click Navigator in the left pane to expose navigator options on the right. Click the Set Default Browser button and then click OK.
    
   

Preventing Internet Explorer from becoming the default browser

After switching your default browser to Mozilla, Internet Explorer may display a dialog when starting asking if you wish to make IE the default browser.

To prevent this dialog from appearing in the future, uncheck the box Always perform this check when starting Internet Explorer before clicking No.

To prevent Internet Explorer from becoming the default browser without opening IE first, right click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop, select Properties, select the Programs tab, and then uncheck the box Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser.