switch default email program

[Lance Whitney]

Hi all,

I use both Outlook (for business) and Windows Mail (for personal use) on the
same Vista notebook. When I click on a mailto link, sometimes I want to open
it in Outlook, and other times in Windows Mail depending on whether I'm at
work or home. Is there a way I can tweak Windows so that clicking on a
mailto link would ask me which email client I want to open it with, rather
than automatically choosing the default? If not, is there an easy Registry
hack that would let me set my default email client on the fly without having
to go through the Set Associations applet?

Thanks for your help.
Lance

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Lance,

Set Outlook as the default. Then export this registry key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell

Save the file as "mail (office).reg"

Set Windows Mail as the default, then export the same registry key, and save it to another file "mail (personal).reg"

Exit the Registry Editor

After logging on to the Office network, double-click "mail (office).reg" to set Outlook as the default. When you use the Notebook at home, double-click "mail (peronal).reg" to set Windows Mail as the default.

Optionally, place those two files in Quick Launch for easy accessibility.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Hi all,

I use both Outlook (for business) and Windows Mail (for personal use) on the
same Vista notebook. When I click on a mailto link, sometimes I want to open
it in Outlook, and other times in Windows Mail depending on whether I'm at
work or home. Is there a way I can tweak Windows so that clicking on a
mailto link would ask me which email client I want to open it with, rather
than automatically choosing the default? If not, is there an easy Registry
hack that would let me set my default email client on the fly without having
to go through the Set Associations applet?

Thanks for your help.
Lance