Like many, I don't use the Internet Explorer to browse the web (that honor goes to Chimera). Unfortunately, 10.2 has a nasty caching bug that prevents users from changing the Default Web Browser. Well, the System Preferences (Internet -> Web tab -> Default Web Browser) will let you change the setting, but the cache will prevent the new setting froom taking effect. I have tried all four previous tips (1, 2, 3, and 4) without success.
One day, I got bored and read Chimera Release Note. Under "Known Issues", I found:
Sometimes, on Mac OS 10.2 (Jaguar), Navigator won't stick as your default browser. If you have this problem, try removing the following filesIt may take one or two tries to get it working, but this really works! Close all running applications, flush the cache files, change the default web browser, flush the cache again (if they exist), and reboot.and reboot your machine.
- ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.UserCache.csstore (where ~ is your Home directory)
- /Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.LocalCache.csstore
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020918062256978