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Now that Internet Explorer has officially dropped below 50% market share, it’s high time that we rename it to a more fitting title: Google Chrome Downloader, or if you prefer, Firefox Downloader. Obviously this is a very stupid geek trick, and the reality is that Internet Explorer 9 is a very capable browser that works well. But don’t spoil our fun!

Renaming Internet Explorer to Firefox/Chrome Downloader

The first thing you’ll want to do is open up regedit.exe through the Start Menu search or Run box, and browse down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Once there, create a new String key on the right-hand side, call it Window Title, and set the text to Chrome Downloader, Firefox Downloader, or something else entirely.

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You should probably also open up the properties pane on any IE shortcuts and change the General tab to the new text.

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Next, you should change the home page of Internet Explorer to the Chrome or Firefox download page:

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Awesome Results

Now that you’ve done the rename and closed all the IE windows, you can launch it again and see that the title is really changed everywhere, including Alt-Tab:

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And even Task Manager:

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If you’re the techie fix-it guy in your family, all you have to do is set this up on everybody’s computer, and they won’t be confused again.