The problem is with desktop shortcuts or links in external programs? First, turn off Firefox's setting to check whether it is the default. This is in the Advanced Options as described in this article: [[Advanced settings for accessibility, browsing, system defaults, network, updates, and encryption]]. Next, go to your preferred browser, and use its internal feature to have it make itself your default browser. For Internet Explorer, see: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/make-ie-default-browser (there is a version selector on the right side of the page if it opens for an inapplicable version) Does that fix it?