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After getting a browser other than Internet Explorer, wouldn't it be nice if inexperienced Internet users stopped using IE on your computer? The easiest way to do this is to set your IE homepage to the other browser's shortcut. (If you make your homepage the executable itself, IE will spend a considerable period of time copying it to a temporary directory.) The default Firefox shortcut on the start menu of Windows XP is saved at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Mozilla Firefox\Mozilla Firefox.lnk. On starting IE7, this, when set as your home page, causes a nice security dialog box to pop up. If you press Open, IE will close and Firefox will open. If you press Save, IE will ask you where to save a copy of the icon, then IE will close and Firefox will still open. If you press Cancel, IE will just close. You can change the home page back by right-clicking the desktop (not Start Menu) icon and clicking Properties, and you can still open IE using Windows/Microsoft Update in the start menu. The result on IE6 isn't quite as good, but then again you should upgrade to the latest version so you don't get viruses indirectly from IE (e.g., web page preview in MS Word).

If you are willing to spend more time to get a slightly better result, try the directions below. (I hope I didn't leave out any steps.)

1. You may wish to backup the IE shortcut in the start menu.
2. Rename all IE icons to "Internet Exploder".
3. Rename the comment of the IE shortcut in the start menu into "Opens a good Internet browser."
4. Rename the target of the IE shortcut in the start menu into the following (if you use Firefox):
   "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" http://mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features
   Using the simpler directions above gives an extra mouse click to users if they open IE from the start menu, and they may be left wondering what this Firefox start page is. By doing this step, people opening IE from the start menu open Firefox directly and get a more informative feature list.
5. As of this step, the icon on the desktop still opens IE as usual. You have a choice here: replace the icon with a shortcut like the one in the start menu or set your home page to the other browser (or both). I am intimidated to do it the first way because that desktop item is really a system folder, not a normal shortcut, even though it can be restored. Feel free to delete it anyway if you're not intimidated, but I opt for changing the home page instead. Instead of changing it to the original browser's shortcut, it is better to change it to the updated IE one so users get the improved welcome message. Another side effect of this different home page is that the dialog box says the name of the file about to be opened is "Internet Exploder.lnk", not "Mozilla Firefox.lnk".