I am using Windows XP, SP3.
I have been using CC Cleaner and Defraggler for years, and so last night, I decided to give Speccy a try. The Speccy installer also installed Chrome, and I did not know it had done this until some time later. Chrome became my default browser. I did not want this as I am an enthusiastic Firefox user and had it set up with lots of bookmarks and menu customization.
So I went into my Firefox, clicked on tools/options/advanced/check now in order to reset Firefox as my default. But clicking on a URL link in a Notetab Pro file opened the URL up in Chrome.
I removed Chrome, but when I clicked on a URL in a NoteTab Pro file, Windows searched for Chrome despite this.
So I went to my Windows start/control panel/add or remove programs/ and clicked on set program access and defaults/custom in order to set Firefox as my default. After that, clicking on a URL shortcut still defaulted to Chrome.
So I clicked on my computer and clicked tools/folder options/file types and noted HTML files were assigned to be opened by Firefox. However, Windows still wanted to use Chrome to open the URL.
Then I uninstalled Speccy, rebooted, and finally Windows understood Chrome was not my default browser.
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I can't begin to tell you how annoying this whole time-wasting episode was. I think that foisting Chrome on the unwitting user as a "feature" of the Speccy installation, along with Chrome's aggressive and obnoxious attempt to make it the default browser will annoy many other people.
If the Speccy installer was deliberately designed to install Chrome without the user's permission and knowledge and this was not just user-error on my part, this is a terrible public-relations mistake. As it is, I no longer can recommend Piriform products until I know this has been fixed or until I know it was just some dumb thing I did. I hope it was user error, so that I can continue to recommend Piriform, along with a caution to be aware that Chrome is offered during installation. My experience, however, was that I had to choose between having Speccy and being forced to use Chrome as my default instead of Firefox, or have Firefox and forgo Chrome. With respect, Speccy is not worth giving up Firefox as my default browser.
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I hate to make this kind of posting as my introduction to the forum. But when I sent a private email to Piriform according to the suggestion on the website, I got an automatically generated email that said, "If you have a suggestion, then please post it in our forum. For support with the forum, please contact one of the forum moderators. Sorry about this automated response, but we're super busy creating great applications " My preference would have been to handle this problem privately, but I couldn't do that without paying $24.95 USD for the privilege.
Regards,
AlanStan