When you install a third-party app on your Windows 10 computer, depending on the existing/built-in applications your PC has, the new ones may take precedence, and the OS sets them as default to open certain file types.
For example, if you install Mozilla Firefox, it may become default web browser (with your consent) instead of Microsoft Edge. Although you may want this to happen otherwise you wouldn’t have installed Firefox in the first place, there might be instances when you no longer want to use this browser either. And this condition could be true for many other apps and not only for the web browsers.
That said, here’s how you can set default apps in Windows 10:
Step 1
Get to the Default apps window
Type DEFAULT APPS in the Cortana search box, and press Enter. This opens the Default apps window. From here you can change default apps to open certain files or browse the web.
Step 2
Change a default app
Click the app you want to change (Firefox for this example) from the Choose default apps list, and click a different one from the Choose an app list that pops up (Google Chrome for this example). This switches the default web browser from Firefox to Google Chrome. The Choose an app list contains all the alternate apps on your PC that can be replaced with the current one.
Step 3
Reset all apps to default (Optional)
Optionally click the Reset button. This resets all the custom default apps to the ones recommended by Windows 10 and were set as default at the time of installation. You may want to do this to resolve any conflicts between similar apps, or in a case when any file type has lost its association with its default app.
For example, if you install Mozilla Firefox, it may become default web browser (with your consent) instead of Microsoft Edge. Although you may want this to happen otherwise you wouldn’t have installed Firefox in the first place, there might be instances when you no longer want to use this browser either. And this condition could be true for many other apps and not only for the web browsers.
That said, here’s how you can set default apps in Windows 10:
Step 1
Get to the Default apps window
Type DEFAULT APPS in the Cortana search box, and press Enter. This opens the Default apps window. From here you can change default apps to open certain files or browse the web.
Step 2
Change a default app
Click the app you want to change (Firefox for this example) from the Choose default apps list, and click a different one from the Choose an app list that pops up (Google Chrome for this example). This switches the default web browser from Firefox to Google Chrome. The Choose an app list contains all the alternate apps on your PC that can be replaced with the current one.
Step 3
Reset all apps to default (Optional)
Optionally click the Reset button. This resets all the custom default apps to the ones recommended by Windows 10 and were set as default at the time of installation. You may want to do this to resolve any conflicts between similar apps, or in a case when any file type has lost its association with its default app.