How to determine the Windows default browser (at the top of the start menu)

Question

How can I determine the Windows default browser (at the top of the start menu)?

I am using VB6 but can probably adapt other code no problem.

There are similar questions on Stack Overflow, but they seem to provide incorrect answers.

For instance the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareClientsStartMenuInternet lists both Internet Explorer and Firefox on my PC.

And getting the .html association fails for me as well, as HTML files are associated with IE but Firefox is my default browser.

Note that I don't want to actually open the browser, just get it's name.

Answer 1

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasseshttpshellopencommand(Default) is the current user's handler for the HTTP protocol (which means "default browser"; NOTE: this is NOT the same thing as the .html default handler!).

However, it is possible to have a different browser at the top of Start Menu without changing the default. FYI, the browser executable name in Start menu is stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClientsStartMenuInternet(Default).