List all web-browsers installed on a Windows machine

Question

Is there a common method/api to list all web browsers (name, executable, default yes/no) installed on my machine (and per user), and how to find out which is t

Answer 1

That method finds all the browsers that are registered as Start Menu Internet Applications. In practice that will suffice since all the major browsers register themselves in this way. If a browser fails to register itself as a Start Menu Internet Applications then it has no chance of Windows noticing it and offering that browser to the user.

The MSDN topic that explains it all is here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd203067.aspx

The Start menu in Windows XP and Windows Vista contains reserved slots for the default Internet (browser) and E-mail (mail) clients, together commonly known as Start Menu Internet Applications. Applications which register as Start Menu Internet Applications do so across the entire system (per-machine). In Windows Vista, the user may use the Default Programs feature to set a per-user default.