You want to change the default app that opens up .JPG files but you hate going through the tedious process of doing it. You launch the Control Panel, and click the Programs category. You then click Default Programs and select the option to set your default programs. From there you can select a particular program to open a particular file extension.
Please keep in mind Microsoft Windows uses Outlook as the default email client. The “Send To. This is true even if you set up gmail as your default email client.
But what if there were an easier way to change the default apps on Windows? Thanks to Windows 10, Microsoft has made it slightly easier to adjust which app opens up a .JPG file or which web browser should be your default.
Simply launch the Settings app, select or tap System, and go into the Default apps category. From there, you can pick which email app or application to use by default, which maps app to use, which music player to set as your default, and much more.
For example, if you want the ability to double click a file (a .JPG in this example) and have it open your app of choice, you can make that default association in this area of the Settings app. If you want to reset everything to factory defaults, Microsoft has added a reset button. You can even choose default apps by file type or by protocol. You can even set defaults by app!
Apps can no longer automatically change your default settings in Windows 10. Instead, you will now be prompted to make a particular app your default. Here’s what Microsoft had to say about it:
“In Windows 8.1, Classic Windows applications (Win32) could invoke the prompt asking you to change your defaults, so you may have seen multiple prompts during install and after they launched. However, Windows Store apps could not invoke this prompt. Instead, a notification banner will appear after your apps are installed telling you that new apps are available and you would click on this banner to change your defaults.”
How do you like the new modern Settings app on Windows 10? Do you find yourself using it or sticking to the old Control Panel?
Further reading: Microsoft, Windows 10Setting programs as Default for opening files make it very easy to open files without going through the process of specifying which program to use. However, it can be a bit tricky to set up a default Email Client and it gets worse with Windows 8, as it will set its built-in Mail app as Default Email client.
AdvertisingNot many people are fan of Windows 8 Mail app and the fact that it is set by default, it just gets more annoying. But, don’t worry you can always change your default email client in both Windows 7 and 8.
You will have to access the “Default Programs” feature of Windows to the change Default email client and open mailto links with it. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how you can change your default email client in Windows.
Note: This tutorial is written using Windows 7, the instructions for Windows 8 are also same with minor visual changes.
Set Default Email Client
Before starting, you should at least have more than one email client to be able to change between them. If you don’t already have another email client, then download it first. There are many reliable Email clients, some popular ones include, Outlook, Postbox and Thunderbird.
Now you need to open Windows “Default Programs”, click on the Start menu and from there, click on “Control Panel”.
In Control Panel, click on “Programs” Category. On the next page you will see the “Default Programs” option, click on it.
You will see different options to set default programs for specific files. To look for the option to change default email client, click on “Associate a file type or protocol with a program”.
After a short delay, you will see all the extensions and Protocols with default program that opens them located under the column “Current Default”.
There will be a lot of extensions and protocols and you need to find “MAILTO” protocol between them. To easily find the protocol, click on any of the program and then press the “M” key on your keyboard. This will directly filter you to “MAILTO” option.
You will be able to see the current Email Client to open mailto links under the “Current Default” column. In our case, it is “Microsoft Office Outlook”, to change it, we can double-click on it or select it and then click on “Change program” located at the top right corner of the window.
You will see all the currently installed Email clients on your PC in a new window. Just click on the email client which you would like to use and click on “OK”.
The Page will start loading again and after a short delay your default email client will be changed and you can see it under the “Current Default” column. In our case, we have set our default email client to Thunderbird.
If you have any questions or know any other easy method to change default email client, let us know in the comments below.
Filed in Computers. Read more about Email and Windows.
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