How to stop programs from opening my browser?

Question

How do you prevent programs from obnoxiously opening the browser on their own accord?

It's unbelievable that programs/developers feel so entitled as to A.) open another program on one's computer, and B.) then have the gall to browse to whatever site or advertisement they so please.

cough... Revo Uninstaller

Solution 1

I realize this thread is old, but for those who are still wondering:

Open the Registry Editor (search for regedit in the start menu), then open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command

Double click on (Default) in the right pane, then delete what is in the "value data" field and replace it with "" then click ok.

Then go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\https\shell\open\command, double click (Default) and replace whatever is in the box with "" again and click ok.

Solution 2

This is quite easy. Just rename firefox.exe to zfirefox.exe and it's done. (or any other browser that you might have) Obviously, you'll want to update any shortcuts and firewall rules.

Comments

[JClaspill]

The programs are simply loading a URL, which will open the default browser. (edit: removed stuff that wasn't too relevant for win7)

[Chris O'Kelly]

Don't have the time to turn this into a full solution, but maybe this will get you looking in the right direction? superuser.com/questions/578439/… I think what you want to do essentially is change the "open URL" behavior to no longer just open the default browser, which is similar to what this question is looking for. A thought though, do you also want to invalidate any and all URL's outside the browser on your PC? Because that looks like the path you are heading down.

[lyrica]

@ChrisO'Kelly Well, I'd prefer not to completely invalidate that path. But now that I'm thinking it over, I can't really think of when I need it otherwise. However, I guess more and more programs are putting their help/support files online these days, which I'd prefer not to invalidate. Ideally, there'd be some type of access control list, which I'm not privy to know if Windows 7 has such (that would apply in this case).

[Karan]

Also related (not a dupe): How can I select which browser a link from miscellaneous applications open in each time?

[Keltari]

Not sure this can be accomplished without breaking functionality you would probably want to keep

[David]

Not really a software fix, but I would tend to avoid these kinds of programs in the first place. There is (usually) a better alternative.

[lyrica]

But if the browser is still set as the system default browser, won't the OS still know where to find it?

[lyrica]

Though by doing this you'd lose the ability for any (legitimate) program to link to http URLs, no? Beggars/choosers, if so, I suppose.