Are you a Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard user, and have installed almost all the browsers available for it? Do you want the option to select your “default” browser on a link-by-link basis, i.e, opening some links in Safari, some in Mozilla Firefox, some in Google Chrome, and so on? Look no further and get yourself Choose Wisely, which allows you to do all this.

After installing Choose Wisely, make it your default web browser. Now, when you click links in any other programs (such as, your email client), Choose Wisely will open a pop-up window, providing you the option to select a specific browser in which you want to open the link in. This tiny application is very useful and a boon for those users who are into web development and wants to test their work or for them who don’t want a single browser as their default browser.

To make Choose Wisely aware of which browsers you want to have in the option, all you need to do is, simply drag and drop your browsers into the application window. A maximum of 5 different browsers can be stored, and browsers you no longer need can be removed by dragging them out of the window. Minimum requirement to run Choose Wisely is Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, older versions are not yet officially supported and may cause system crashes.

[ Download Choose Wisely ]

FYI, Windows users can opt for Browser Chooser, which offers similar functions.

We previously shared a quick tip about a registry tweak using which you can disable browser choice update screen on windows. Off late, I have found a lot of people still asking how they can disable the browser choice screen in Windows.

The registry tweak was based on a knowledge base article (KB2019411) released by Microsoft, explaining how IT administrators can disable a Browser Choice screen for their users using a simple registry key. Now, you can get the same result by using the Group Policy Preferences editor and its also easier to use than the registry editor.

Note:

• If your computer is running Windows 7, the Browser Choice application removes Internet Explorer from a pinned location on the Start menu and in the taskbar.
• If you do not set Internet Explorer as your default Web browser, the Browser Choice application does not make any changes to your computer.

Use Group Policy to Disable Browser Choice

1. Press [Windows Key] + [R] to open the Run dialog box and type gpedit.msc to open Group Policy Management Console.

2. Now, navigate to Computer Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry.
   

3. Here, right-click and create a new registry item (Registry > New > Registry Item).

4. Type Software\BrowserChoice in the Key Path then type Enable in the Value name, then select REG_DWORD as the value type 0 in the value data and then click OK.
   

5. You can then restart the computer to see that the browser choice screen does not appear again.

Microsoft has recently published an article detailing steps required to disable or remove the Browser Ballot (or Browser Choice) screen. Starting this March, the Browser Choice screen began displaying on Windows machines for European customers. If you are a regular user annoyed by it or if you are a system administrator who wants to manage the display of the Browser Choice update screen in managed personal computing environments that are under a Volume Licensing program. Then here is a solution for you all which will help you disable the Browser Choice update screen.

Update: Another way to disable browser choice screen can be found here.

How to Block/Disable Browser Choice Update Screen on Windows?

1. Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Run dialog box (Goto Start Menu > Run, or, press [ Windows Key ] + [ R ] to access the Run dialog box.)
2. Navigate to the following Registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\BrowserChoice
3. Create a new entry by right-clicking on the right pane and choosing “New DWORD“
4. Name it “Enable” and set the value to 0. This will stop displaying the Browser Choice screen. If you want to revert back, set this value to 1.

Read a brief FAQ related to the Browser Choice update (KB976002)

Almost every user now-a-days likes to keep installed the major browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc. on their computers. The reason for this is the different choices and features that you get from these browsers. Its great having them all installed but the problem with any Operating system as such Windows is, it only allows us to keep only one browser as the default one. So, if you are trying to open a saved page or an application launches a link, it will open up in the default browser, no matter if you wanted it to open in a different browser.

If you’re a web developer, and you need to test your site in several different browsers, having a quick way to switch between them is even more useful. Even if you are a general user and switches browsers according to the needs will like to have the flexibility of changing the browser instead of only opening the default browser. That’s the idea behind Browser Chooser, it is a Windows application that acts as your default browser and lets you pick which browser to open a link in. Browser Chooser gives you the flexibility of choosing the browser on-the-fly. Instead of opening a URL or the saved HTML web page in the default browser you will see a dialog box with the icons of the browsers you have installed on your system. You can then pick the browser you would like to open.

Browser Chooser has slots for four browsers, which should be plenty for the general/average user, but you might feel the need for more slots, if you’re testing things across different versions. It is developed in VB.Net and is geared towards Windows Vista and Windows 7. The setup is pretty simple, you add the browsers you want and click on “Set as default browser” button. Now, whenever you open a new link, you’ll get to select the right browser. [via instantfundas]

[ Get Browser Chooser ]