Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org.
QUESTION: I’m using Windows 7 and I’d like to make Yahoo my default email program. Is that possible?
PC CLUB: It can be done with the help of a free utility with a strange name called GmailDefaultMaker. This program, available at http://gmaildefault.codeplex.com/, can make Gmail, AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo your default E-mail program. Windows 7 by default has no E-mail program built in unlike Windows XP or Vista. One exception would be if the manufacturer or you installed Windows Live Mail or Outlook. In that case it would be the default. In any case this utility can change the default if you so choose.
When you click a link containing an E-mail address without a default E-mail program, you will get a message stating that “There is no email program associated to perform the requested action”.
To make Yahoo or one of the other E-mail programs your default, simply download the installer, run it, pick your E-mail service of choice, and from then on, any link in a browser, Word document, or other application is sent along to a composition window in your default browser. To change your default you have to run the program again and choose a different option.
All the above information pertains to Internet Explorer. With Firefox, thing are a lot easier. Just go to Tools, Options and select the Applications tab. Scroll down until you see mailto on the left. From here you can setup your options. Note that this only affects clicking links in Firefox.
For you Gmail users you can download and install the Gmail Notifier program from http://bit.ly/gmail_notifier. This will set your default E-mail program to Gmail when using Internet Explorer. If you want to check your mailto function, just go to my web site at www.edwardn.com and on my Home page look for the Test mailto on the right.
Firefox users can still set the default to Yahoo or Gmail even with Windows Live Mail installed. This won’t help Internet Explorer users.
Should you ever want to right click a picture on your PC and use Send to for selecting an E-mail recipient, none of the solutions above will work. You can either install a desktop E-mail program such as Windows Live Mail or Microsoft Outlook or install the free Affixa available from www.affixa.com. You can use this instead of GmailDefaultMaker.
Summary – there are 3 programs for workingwith Gmail and Yahoo. Gmail Notifier is for Gmail only and the others work with Gmail and Yahoo. Firefox has options without any of the programs unless you want Send to to work.
· Gmail Notifier http://bit.ly/gmail_notifier
· Affixa www.affixa.com
· GmailDefaultMaker at http://gmaildefault.codeplex.com/
Ed Schwartz is a member of the North Orange County Computer Club. To send in a question, go to edwardns.com and click the Contact Me menu. Archives of previous columns are also on the website.