Want Firefox to be your default browser?

Apple has a new knowledgebase article on this:

Learn how to change the default Mac OS X email and Web browser applications with Mail and Safari, in Mac OS X 10.3 or later.

Note: If you are accustomed to using Internet preferences in earlier versions of Mac OS X, note that Internet preferences is not included with Mac OS X 10.3 or later. In Mac OS X 10.3 or later, use Mail and Safari to change your default applications.

Choosing an email application other than Mail

1. Open Mail (/Applications/Mail).
2. From the Mail menu, choose Preferences.
3. Click the General button.
4. Choose your desired default email application from the Default Email Reader pop-up menu.
5. Note: You may need to set up the email application with your email account information. This information is not automatically exported from Mail.

Choosing a default Web browser other than Safari

1. Open Safari (/Applications).
2. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences.
3. Click the General button.
4. Choose a different browser from the Default Web Browser pop-up menu.
5. Safari and Mail shouldn't be deleted

After changing your default application, you should not delete Safari or Mail, even if you do not plan to use them. You will need them if you wish to change your default settings in the future.

So, if you like Foxfire as a browser, make it your default.

Comments

[Dave]

Errr... Don't you mean "Firefox"? I've not heard of "Foxfire" yet.

Easy mistake. I started to use Firefox as my default browser awhile back but have come back to Safari. They have so many similarities but Safari, for me, is easier and faster on my Mac. I see Firefox as a better alternative for Internet Explorer on Windows XP & Vista. Firefox is like Safari for windows users.

[dkmnow]

As of 10.4.8, changing the default from Safari only holds until the next bootup. Apple has added a "feature" to the latest Tiger updates which trashes any custom default-application changes you make, and always resetting their own flagship proprietary apps as the defaults. This applies to Safari, iTunes, Mail, possibly Preview (in the case of PDFs, I've seen more than one complaint), and a number of others.

In these cases, you can switch the defaults to any apps you like for your current session, but Tiger just switches them all right back the next time you power up. And if you try using the RCDefaultApp preference pane, for example, Tiger actually goes so far as to TRASH your new prefs after starting up! Infuriating!

The old "it's not a bug, it's a feature" shindig was done to death when Apple first started with this rotten move. I've seen countless discussions and horror-stories from people trying to figure out what to do about this, but I haven't heard of any effective workarounds to get the system to save your settings the way you want them.

Major suckage. I don't need some wet-nurse OS arguing with me about what apps to use.