remembering my preferred browser

  • Thread starter Thread starter William B. Lurie
  • Start date Start date
W

William B. Lurie

My XP has a problem. I used Netscape as my preferred
browser for years, and recently switched to Mozilla.
Still, there are places in Windows where it remembers
that I used to use Netscape, and some things that I
try to open go right to Netscape. And I have tracked
this down by making netscape.exe unavailable, and the
programs just won't load. These are .htm files on a CD
I received, that I try to open using Windows Explorer.

Someone suggested I go searching in Registry for all the
places where netscape.exe can be found, and changing them,
but I prefer not to undergo the hazards of registry
manipulation. Is there some straightforward way that I
can 'splain to Windows XP that where I used to use Netscape,
I now use Mozilla?

Thank you.
 
William said:
My XP has a problem. I used Netscape as my preferred
browser for years, and recently switched to Mozilla.
Still, there are places in Windows where it remembers
that I used to use Netscape, and some things that I
try to open go right to Netscape. And I have tracked
this down by making netscape.exe unavailable, and the
programs just won't load. These are .htm files on a CD
I received, that I try to open using Windows Explorer.

Someone suggested I go searching in Registry for all the
places where netscape.exe can be found, and changing them,
but I prefer not to undergo the hazards of registry
manipulation. Is there some straightforward way that I
can 'splain to Windows XP that where I used to use Netscape,
I now use Mozilla?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Have you set Mozilla as your default browser?

Edit>Preferences>Navigator<Make Default.
 
Godpapa said:
Have you set Mozilla as your default browser?

Edit>Preferences>Navigator<Make Default.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did that, GP (and by the way, thank you!).
It now successfully opens the .htm files, but
not immediately or directly. First I still see
a Netscape 4.8 mail window/panel open, and when
I close it, I get a pane showing xxxx.htm file
not found, when the arrow is pointing right at
its icon. A few more clicks and it does manage
to open the file, but obviously something is still
poining to Netscape.
WBL
 
Easy, yes. But not until after I make darn sure
that there isn't something else depending on it.
And when I made Netscape unavailable by
temporarily changing its call .exe to .exx,
the programs wouldn't load at all. No, the
problem has to be solved by finding where the CALL
is to netscape.exe and changing that.
W B L
The easiest way would be to uninstall Netscape.
Click to expand...
 
Hi William,

The black border tells me it is a matter of adjusting your monitor. There
should be dials or buttons on the monitor case which allow you to do this,
it varies from monitor to monitor so, I can't tell you more.

HTH, JAX
 
JAX, I think your reply applied to some other query...
can't see that it is pertinent here.
Bill L.
Hi William,

The black border tells me it is a matter of adjusting your monitor. There
should be dials or buttons on the monitor case which allow you to do this,
it varies from monitor to monitor so, I can't tell you more.

HTH, JAX
Click to expand...
 
You're right, I must have had the wrong message highlighted. My apologies if
my post caused any confusion.

Cheers, JAX

William B. Lurie said:
JAX, I think your reply applied to some other query...
can't see that it is pertinent here.
Bill L.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I did that, GP (and by the way, thank you!).
It now successfully opens the .htm files, but
not immediately or directly. First I still see
a Netscape 4.8 mail window/panel open, and when
I close it, I get a pane showing xxxx.htm file
not found, when the arrow is pointing right at
its icon. A few more clicks and it does manage
to open the file, but obviously something is still
poining to Netscape.
WBL
Click to expand...

Glad I could be of some help!! Try this for opening the files directly :

Edit>Preferences>Advanced>System and make sure you have checked the File
Types you want Mozilla to handle.

There is also an option there to alert you when other applications
change the settings. So you should atleast have a pointer as to if and
when Netscape or anything else tries to change the settings.

And if you are still having problems try unchecking the same in Netscape
Preferences.

Regards...
 
Bill,

It could be Mozilla and Netscape don't work well when both installed on
same machine (since they may be looking at the same config files
differently). Suggest de-installing one or the before continuing to
debug. i suggest that be Netscape.

My Mozilla (1.5) works well including correctly being the "preferrred"
browser even wehn launching from Microsoft apps. It also doesn't suffer
from the recently-announced serious bug with IE where URL's can be spoofed.

DO NOT mess with the Windows registry unless you ahve specific
documentation when tells you how. There is no reason to do this. You'll
be working blind since you don't have a clue how the programmer uses
this information.

If you want to hack at Mozilla, hack at the file prefs.js which controls
everything wrt Mozilla and is documented.
 
Yes on all counts, Rob. I'm pretty well decided on this course:
Wait and observe a while longer. Then, after my next full
Drive Image copy (1/1/04), uninstall Netscape. I won't hack
away at Registry, because the dangers are great and the
possible reward not worth the risks. Thanks much.
Bill
 
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