Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE

Subject: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 03:12 PM

I created a shortcut to a favourite site, but it comes up, on my screen, as Internet Explorer instead of Firefox which is my browser of choice. How can I force it to use Firefox instead?

The steps I used were:

right click on an empty part of my screen
choose NEW
choose Shortcut
enter the URL
etc.

I downloaded some firefox create a shortcut thing and it still came up IE.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 03:37 PM

kat -

A shortcut just tells your computer what to open.

The File Type settings in Windows tell it what program to use to open it.

Start|Settings|Control Panel|Folder Options, File Types tab. Find the htt, http, etc file types and it probably will say "opens with IE" when you click on one of them. Click each type you want different, click the "Change" button, and set the whateverprogram you want to use for that type file.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: IvanB
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 08:55 PM

kat, you say Firefox is your "browser of choice" but is it your "default" browser?

Another way of doing what JIK suggests above is to click on Tools/Options/Main in Firefox. Under System Defaults is a checkbo "Firefox should always check to see whether it is the default browser" fllowed by a "check Now" box. Click on "Check Now" and, if Firefox is NOT the default browser, you'll be given the chance to make it so. Basically, doing this causes Firefox to make the changes in file type options John mentions.

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 08:59 PM

Thank you kat and Ivan both! I was having this same stupid situation but just said ta' hell with it, but now I can have my cake and eat the livin' hell out of it too!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 09:14 PM

Kewl! Thanks, Ivan. JinKS, thanks to you, too, but I couldn't figure out which files to do that to...the ones that said they were htt etc. did not have the change option available. So..I've just done what Ivan suggested. Here's hoping it will work.

Yer welcome, Spaw, you know I never mind asking the dumb questions and John never seems to tire of answering, at least not sose ya'd know.:-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 09:15 PM

It worked, it worked!!! YeeHaw!!

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 06:33 AM

On the topic of Firefox

How stable now is Version 2.0 on Fedora? Is it time to switch from 1.5, or does 2.0 still crash every few minutes?

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: Simon G
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 07:35 AM

Definitely time to switch. Mine has been fine apart from memory leaks since 2.0.0.2. Memory leaks look fixed in 2.0.0.5.

Enjoy.

Simon

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 10:06 AM

But don't try renewing McAfee Virus checker with Firefox because you can't!

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 02:02 PM

McAfee stinks anyhow.......Try AVG instead.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: Tootler
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 02:37 PM

McAfee stinks anyhow.......Try AVG instead.

I'll second that. Especially as AVG has a free version.

You can download from here

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 02:51 PM

Thanks Tootler......I should have provided the link myself. I think a survey would show a high percentage of 'Catters using AVG.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: Artful Codger
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 04:47 PM

I switched to Firefox as my default browser, too, but it has some nasty limitations that force me to occasionally use a different browser. For instance, the set of supported plug-ins is limited, and I haven't figured out how to get Firefox to recognize my Thunderbird email program (also from Mozilla) without uninstalling both and installing their integrated environment instead—grrr. With one site, Firefox complains of "infinite redirection" while my other browsers load the site with no problem. I suspected a cookie problem (common, and frequently reported as some other error), but that doesn't appear to be the issue. Another complaint is that many settings can only be changed through the Advanced options window, and there is no documentation on what effect each option has or what a numeric choice option means. (You can install a "Preferences" extension to help, but the information remains largely minimal.)

Re shortcuts:

As others have mentioned, in the general case the real solution is not to use shortcuts but to set Firefox as your default browser and configure Winduds to use Firefox for all relevant extensions (Winduds Explorer > Tools > Folder Options... > File Types tab OR Start button > Settings > Control Panel > Folder Options > File Types tab).

But for special exceptions you can indeed create shortcuts which indicate not only which file to open but also which application to use. Set the shortcut target to the full application path, followed by a space and the full path of the file to open:

 "C:\Program Files\Mozilla\{yadayadayada}\Firefox.exe" "C:\{...}\myfile.htm"

If a path contains a space (most will—grrr), you must surround the path name with double quotes, or Winduds will assume the path ends at the first space, the rest being additional options.

There are three problems with this approach:
(1) If either path changes (such as may happen when upgrading your browser version), your shortcut is blitzed.
(2) A program may require a special option flag before the target file name. Sadly, such options are likely to be undocumented, despite their great utility to those with a little computer savvy.
(3) This setup is only effective when you double-click on the shortcut. If you open the file directly (say, through Windows Explorer), you'll get the default behavior (as indicated by your Folder Options.)

The path change problem can be alleviated by defining a new environment variable (My Computer right-click > Properties > Advanced tab > Environment Variables) for your browser path:

 Variable: BROWSER
  Value: C:\Program Files\{yadayadayada}\Firefox.exe

Then in the shortcut, you can use the environment variable instead:

 %BROWSER% "C:\{...}\myfile.htm"

If your browser path ever changes, you need only update your environment variable, and all the shortcuts dependent on it will work once again. (The need for quoted filenames may cause problems, since quotes often suppress variable expansion.)

Similarly, you can define an environment variable for your user files area:

 Variable: HOME
  Values: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents

This allows you to specify targets as "%HOME%\{...}\myfile.htm" instead as the decidedly unfriendly "C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\{...}\myfile.htm". (I'll spare you a rant on the use of ridiculously long names, embedded spaces and backslashes in filenames. Suffice it to say that Microsoft is proof that giving a million monkeys a million keyboards still will not produce a single work by Shakespeare, much less a coherent software design.)

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 05:46 PM

For the simple case of a desktop shortcut, as kat described in the first post, the right click on desktop, New | Shortcut, creates a shortcut to the object to be opened, with an icon on your desktop.

As described above, if you want to change the "default" program that Windows uses for the "object" the shortcut points to, you can go into the Folder Options | File Types manager in Control Panel to change the program for all files of the same type.

To make an exception, for the single shortcut you've created, you should be able to right click on the shortcut icon, choose Properties, and on the General Tap you should find an "opens using ..." that tells you what program will be used. There should be a "Change" button that allows you to tell Windows to use a different program for that shortcut only.

In both Control Panel | Folder Options | File Types tab and at the Change button in Properties | General tab the options you find for programs you can select are limited to programs "Windows knows" can be used for the object type. Most "good" programs will take care of getting themselves on the list for filetypes they can recognize, but occasionally it's necessary to "add a program" in order to have it appear there. That's under "advanced methods" - (i.e. I'd have to look up the details).

When you click on the Change button in either place (assuming it hasn't been disabled by a non-compliant program) you should get a "recommended" selection of programs and also a list of "other programs" that includes any that might be able to open the filetype. There should also be a "Browse" button that allows you to select any program that you can find on your machine.

If a program, such as Firefox, sets itself as the "default" program for a filetype, it is possible for it to disable the selection of another program in either place. This is NOT A WINDOWS COMPLIANT FEATURE, but does occur with some programs. A prior setting, in the program, of Firefox or some other program as the default for the filetype you're using could explain why no "Change" button was accessible in Control Panel. (The button might also be inaccessible if you're running as a user with limited privies, but that would depend on your OS and on how your user accounts are set up.)

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: Cluin
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 05:52 PM

There's a storm comin'. Ye'd best decide where your loyalties lay.

Subject: RE: Tech: Create Shortcut to use Firefox, not IE
From: GUEST,GT
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 11:40 AM

If you want just a single shortcut on your desktop that will open a web page with IE, even though Firefox is your default browser, you can create a batch file with the full path to open IE followed by your address. You'll have to search to find the full path on your computer to IE. Save it to your desktop, change the icon and voila!