Desktop Internet Shortcuts

I have Windows XP Home, Sp. 3

I use Firefox exclusively. When I copy a URL in Firefox and then use it to create a shortcut on the desktop, the shortcut always opens in Explorer. I want it to open in Firefox.

As far as I know, Firefox is my default browser. If I right click on the taskbar and go to Properties-Start Menu and Customize, Mozilla Firefox and Eudora are listed. If I go to Control Panel-Internet Options-Programs, Internet Explorer is listed as not being my default browser.

How do I get the shortcuts to open in Firefox?

 

Close firefox and IE. Now, from the control panel, go into the Folder Options, then the File Types tab, then scroll down until you find Extensions "(NONE)" with a File Types as "Internet Shortcut ". Click on it, then the Advanced button, then Open, and change the "Application used to perform action" to the location of your firefox. Now, OK your way out. Now, test. Did that work?

 

It may depend on the shortcut. Some websites are hard-coded to open with IE.
There is one way around, using the IE Tab addon. I will open any page with the IE engine, but not necessarily from a downloaded link.

 

I've never come across a shortcut that was "hard-coded to open with IE." However, I've had many a program that were hard-coded to open IE. Perhaps you could provide a sample.

 

Thanks for the response.

That didn’t work as it should. The url opened in Firefox ok, but the instant before that a message came up that said "Windows cannot find "˜http://xxxxxâ€. Make sure you typed the name correctly and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search." In the process of doing the change in file types, I noticed other file types such as Firefox URL, etc. Maybe I should be using one of those?

I should say that I am dealing with my wife’s computer and trying to make it easier for her to get quick access to internet sites. So I hate to mess around too much unless I know what I’m doing. In my computer, the application used to perform the action is rundll32.exe ieframe.dll.OpenURL %1. But in a spare computer I have the file types all say Firefox.exe, whereas her others say Internet Explorer . Since we both have identical OS’es I can’t figure out why hers is different unless there is some menu somewhere which will make all the changes to Firefox as needed.

 

You've probably done this already, but it's worth checking. From Firefox go onto the Tools menu and then select Options. Go onto the Advanced tab and check the box labeled "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup ". Press the "Check Now" button and then press Ok to all the popups. That should do it.

Just for reference, I don't know how you are making shortcuts to websites on your desktop, but when I'm doing them I usually just click on the icon in the address bar of the website and drag it onto the desktop.

 

Checking "always, etc." did the trick! Thanks.

Dragging the URL sounds better than my copy and paste routine. Will do it next time.

Seems like I've had Windows XP forever and am still learning bits and pieces. Now I'm supposed to switch to Windows 7!

 

you need to put in the full location of firefox, such as C:\program files\firefox\firefox.exe. Since you're has that " %1" then you need to add that also. Mine doesn't, so thats why I didn't add it. If that still doesn't work, then put the whole location in quotation marks. If that doesn't work, then put the " %1" into quotation marks. Experiement. One of them should work.

Drag and drop is an old windows function. Its a shortcut. Windows and firefox has lots of those little shortcuts.

just because they say you're supposed to switch, doesn't mean you have to. XP still functions good for me. Hey, there are still tones of people who are still using Netscape 7.2. If they link it, stick with it. No need to upgrade, just because the developers say you should.

 

May be I did not make a correct statement, as I never use a shortcut to a site.
I should have said that some websites are hard-coded to open IE, or they may open in Firefox, but don't work. I do not have a sample, because when this happens, I close IE, and open Firefox with IE Tab, and I am ok. And, you may be completely right, because it is not a website per se, but a program opening a link, for things like feedbacks.

 

Westside,

You're half correct

Yes some websites will not work perfectly with firefox as the browser (though mostly their is no real reason for this and ietab or other fixes work fine) but no, a shortcut (as in http:...) cannot be hardcoded to use IE unless that shortcut includes the application (eg iexplore.exe "http:... ") which is not the case here.

 

You may have not noticed that I agreed with you. And, I will say again that I, do not (actually, I have one such shortcut) use Internet shortcuts, so I don't have any experience to make any statement, one way or other.