Computer News No. 106, Nov-Dec 2003

Setting Internet Explorer as the Default Web Browser

1. Setting Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) as the default web browser
2. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC connecting to a central LAN file server
3. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC at home
4. Procedure to import your Netscape bookmarks to the IE6 browser

1. Setting Microsoft Internet Explorer as the default web browser

In the past, Netscape browsers had for some years been the most widely used web browser software in the Internet world. For this reason, Netscape browsers have been kept by many users in the HKU campus as the default web browsers.  In recent years, the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) browser has gained more popularity and is now the most commonly used web browser on the Internet. More recently, Netscape has also ceased its development of the Netscape browser.  For these reasons, the Computer Centre has to adopt IE instead of Netscape as the primary web browsers to be supported for the University's administrative applications as well as for Centre's web-based services. As a result, users who are using Netscape as the default web browsers would not be able to gain the same benefits like colleagues using IE in using certain new web-based applications, e.g. gaining access to HKU Portal.

To facilitate users to re-configure their PCs to use Internet Explorer version 6 (IE6), i.e. the latest version of IE, so as to gain access to the functions of the newer web-based applications, the Computer Centre has developed two procedures for colleagues in the departments using the central LAN file-servers to (1) set IE6 as the default browser on the Windows envirnoment and (2) auto-start IE6 when the Windows environment of a PC is started, as described below:.

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2. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC connecting to a central LAN file server

(A) For Windows 98 users, after login to a central LAN file-server,

Click the already existing desktop icon "HKUWIN - Central Network Services"
=> click the "Install Software on PC" icon
=> click the 2 following icons for the explicitly implied functions:
1) "set IE6 as default browser"
2) "auto-start IE6 when Windows is started"


(B) For Windows XP users, after login to a central LAN file-server,

1) To set IE6 as default browser:

• Click the Windows Start button and run the following program:

f:\win95app\install\ie\Set-IE-as-Default-Browser.exe
• A message box for the Windows "Registy Editor" will appear with the message

'click "Yes" to add the registry entry information in the Registry'
• Click 'Yes' to close the pop-up windows.


2) To auto-start IE6 when Windows is started:

• Click the Windows Start button and run the following program:

f:\win95app\install\ie\Auto-start-IE.exe
• This program will copy a link to start IE6 into the Windows Startup folder.

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3. Procedures for setting IE6 as the default browser on a PC at home

The above two procedures should only be carried out when the PC is connected to a LAN file servers administered by the Computer Centre.  If you wish to set the IE6 browser as the default browser on your home computer , you can follow the manual procedure described in the webpage:  http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/Def2IE.html.

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4. Procedure to import your Netscape bookmarks to the IE6 browser

Users can also import the bookmarks that have been set with a Netscape browser to the IE6 browser installed on the same Windows environment. For the procedure, please refer to the webpage: http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/www/imbk2ie.html
 

Ken Ng 
Tel: 2241 5186 
E-mail: ckng@cc.hku.hk