I am running Netscape 7 for MacOSX.  Netscape has its own built-in
email client software, which it always uses for email tasks.  While
surfing the web using Netscape's web browser, I'd like to be able to
click on a link on a web page that is meant to call up an email
program (such as a mailto: link that creates a new email window
addressed to a particular recipient), and have that new email window
be in the program of my choice, namely Microsoft Entourage, rather
then Netscape's Mail.  How can I accomplish this?  I already know to
right click on the link, copy the email address, create a new email in
Entourage, and paste the copied address into the email's To: section. 
What I'm hoping for is an automated way.  I've already got Entourage
set as the default email client on my computer, and other web browsers
respect that.  But Netscape ignores this right now.

Hi, leoo3. Thanks for your question.

By default, Netscape 7, and Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org), the
browser it is based on, will open any links it can handle, including
the 'new mail' mailto: link. It can be modified to pass the e-mail
address to other programs, but they have chosen to hide this option in
the application's preferences. Fortunately, it is not very difficult
to change it.

I've provided step-by-step instructions for altering this setting
below. This assumes you use the default profile - if you don't, let me
know and I'll provide an alternative version.


1. Quit Netscape, if it is open.


2. Open TextEdit, create a new, blank document, and change the type to
plain text (Format menu -> Make Plain Text).


3. Copy the following line into your new document:

user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.mailto", true);


4. Choose to save the file, and navigate to the following folder:

[Your home directory] -> Library -> Mozilla -> Profiles -> [Your
profile name. Might be 'default'. If there is only one folder there,
choose that.] -> [A folder whose name ends in '.slt']

(On my machine, for example, it is My Home Directory -> Mozilla ->
Profiles -> default -> nibw5y61.slt).


5. Enter the name "user.js" (without the quotes), check that "Western
(Mac OS Roman)" is set as the Plain Text Encoding (if you see any
options about File Formats or RTF instead, make sure you make the
document plain text), and hit Save. TextEdit will probably warn you
that the document name already has an ending. If it does, click "Don't
Append".


6. Start Netscape again. mailto: links should open in your chosen mail program.


If this doesn't work for you, let me know.


You might also find the following links informative:

A brief guide to Mozilla preferences:
  http://www.mozilla.org/catalog/end-user/customizing/briefprefs.html
Mac OS X Hints - Use an enternal program for Mozilla mailto: links:
  http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20020502091605391
  
  
I hope this was of use to you. If you have any questions, please do
not hesitate to request a clarification.

--wildeeo

Excellent!  Worked like a charm.  And the answer was so fast!