# When I click a microsoft link from within firefox it opens an IE window

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 19, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132 "2016-05-19T00:27:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132/1 "2016-05-19T00:27:53Z")

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Anybody else seen this? It drives me nuts.

For example, I Google “MS Access cloud”, click the top sponsored link, it opens the link in firefox, but also a whole 'nother window in IE.

Same thing if I’m at [bingads.microsoft.com/](http://bingads.microsoft.com/) and click campaigns or ads or whatnot…

Ugh! Any way top stop this? It’s maddening.

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, Firefox 46.0.1  
TIA

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**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132/2 "2016-05-19T00:30:51Z")

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My WAG is instead of Microsoft sites asking your system to open the default browser, they are telling it to use IE to open the link. Remove IE from your system. Can’t be used if it ain’t there.

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**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132/3 "2016-05-19T02:34:45Z")

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Yes but there has to be a way to stop it without removing IE. I hate IE but at the same time I have a backup “Open in IE” extension in Firefox because sometimes sites don’t render properly, videos won’t play etc.

Also part of my job involves web development and I currently maintain three separate websites which I developed using wordpress and most require custom CSS so I need it as a test platform.

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**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-click-a-microsoft-link-from-within-firefox-it-opens-an-ie-window/755132/4 "2016-05-19T02:37:08Z")

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Okay, the browser extension had [microsoft.com](http://microsoft.com) whitelisted to auto open in IE. UGH