How to Make Mozilla Thunderbird a Default Email Client

Mozilla Thunderbird is the email client created by the people that make the Firefox web browser. Thunderbird incorporates many of the same design aspects of its popular cousin and is rapidly overtaking many older popular mail clients, such as Eudora and Outlook. Changing your operating system's default mail client allows you to click mail links to open this award-winning program.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Understand that, for some unknown reason, Windows doesn't always change the default mail client when it should. When choosing a default program, you'll occasionally have to set or unset it in several places.

2. Open Thunderbird and go to Tools, then Options, then General and select Use Thunderbird as the Default Mail Application. If you don't have any other mail clients installed, this should be all you have to do.

3. Look at your settings in Windows. In Windows XP, open the Start Menu, then Control Panel and Internet Options. Select the Programs tab and choose Mozilla Thunderbird as your default mail client. In Windows Vista, open the Start Menu, then Default Programs and Set Program Access and Computer Defaults. Choose Mozilla Thunderbird as your default mail client.

4. Check the options in any other mail clients you have installed to make sure they aren't set as the default mail application. Nearly every version of Windows has Microsoft Outlook Express installed as part of a standard Windows installation.

5. Restart the computer if nothing seems to work. Sometimes Windows doesn't like to change default programs away from Microsoft programs without a full OS restart.