How to Make Yahoo! Mail Your Default Windows Email Program

If you use Yahoo! Mail for all your email needs, some of the amenities of Windows seem to elude you. A click on an email link in your browser brings up Outlook Express or another desktop email program, not a new message in Yahoo! Mail. Trying to send a file directly from Word, OpenOffice.org or another office application yields the same, unsatisfactory result.

Fortunately, the state of dissatisfaction need not be permanent. It will be overcome by making Yahoo! Mail act as your default email program in Windows, which, if you use Windows 95 or later is an easy thing to do.

Make Yahoo! Mail Your Default Windows Email Program

To set up Yahoo! Mail as your default email client in Windows:

• Download and install Yahoo! Messenger.
• Select Tools | Internet Options... from the menu in Internet Explorer.
• Go to the Programs tab.
• Make sure Yahoo! Mail is selected under E-mail.
• Click OK.

Yahoo! as Default Email: Does Not Work under Windows Vista

Unfortunately, Yahoo! Mail as your default email program may be hard-wired to use Internet Explorer instead of your default browser, and it does not work in Windows Vista.

Make Yahoo! Mail the Default Email Composer in Mozilla Firefox

In Mozilla Firefox, you can turn to the Mailto 2 Webmail script for Greasemonkey to have Yahoo! Mail handle email links (even under Windows Vista).