Ever click a link in Slack only to have it open in the wrong browser? Now you’re stuck staring at a login screen for an account you’re already signed into somewhere else. It’s incredibly annoying. I used to deal with this headache all the time while bouncing between Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Edge on my Windows laptop. I use Chrome for most of my work stuff, but I keep the other browsers around for specific tasks.
Windows, meanwhile, only wants to know which browser is the default. That’s where Browser Tamer comes in. It sits between Windows and your browsers, sending links to whichever browser or profile you’ve chosen.
I gave Windows a new default with better judgment
The first setup takes a few minutes
Browser Tamer is a free, open-source app for Windows and Linux that routes links to specific browsers and profiles. It handles links launched from other applications, such as Slack, email clients, and document readers. If you’ve already set up separate profiles in Chrome, it can send a link straight to the right one.
You can grab the installer from GitHub or install it on Windows with winget install aloneguid.bt. Open the configuration window and click Discover system browsers if it hasn’t populated the sidebar already. Browser Tamer also checks for installed browsers whenever you reopen its configuration window. Mine found Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Edge, along with their existing profiles.
Next, make Browser Tamer your system browser handler.
- Open Settings > Apps > Default apps in Windows 11.
- Search for Browser Tamer, select it, and click Set default.
- Go back to the app, pick the browser and profile you want as your fallback, then click the heart icon under that profile’s tab.
I picked my Personal profile in Brave. Now, when I click a regular web link in another app, Windows hands it to Browser Tamer, which opens it in Brave unless another rule says otherwise. The app saves your changes automatically, so there’s no Save button to look for.
This builds on Windows’ default-app settings, so you don’t have to switch your default browser back and forth all day. Keep in mind that some links built into Windows can still open in Edge no matter what, because they skip the normal default browser setting.
I taught it which links belong where
One URL rule handles an entire website
To create a new link rule, start by clicking the specific browser and profile you want to use in Browser Tamer’s sidebar. Under the Rules section, click + add, keep the type set to URL, and type in the website domain. For example, I added makeuseof.com to my Chrome profile because that’s where I like to do all my writing work. Once I did that, any MakeUseOf link automatically opened in Chrome, while every other website kept opening in Brave like normal.
By default, the app looks for basic text matches and doesn’t care about capital letters. If you want a rule to apply to a specific website, make sure to set the scope to Domain. This stops the app from accidentally hijacking a link just because the website’s name happens to be buried deep inside a completely different web address. You can also use the Path scope if you only want to target a specific section or page of a website instead of the whole thing.
Before you start clicking around and testing your new rules in the wild, check out Browser Tamer’s built-in tester by going to Tools > Pipeline debugger. Just type in a test URL and turn on Matching only. The app will highlight the active rule in green so you can see exactly which browser it’s going to trigger. If you type in a different website, you’ll watch the active rule switch instantly. It’s a super easy way to catch an overly aggressive rule before it starts opening a million wrong browser windows.
The app that sends the link can decide, too
You can also route links based on the application they came from. I selected Edge’s Personal profile, clicked + add under Rules, changed the type to Process, and entered slack.exe. Now, links clicked in Slack generally open in Edge. If a link also matches one of your website rules, Browser Tamer can bring up its picker to resolve the conflict. You can adjust rule priorities if you’d rather have one rule take precedence.
If you aren’t sure what an app’s background program name is, you can easily find it in Windows Task Manager by right-clicking the app and selecting Go to details.
Process rules depend on where a link was launched. Copying a URL from Slack and opening it elsewhere won’t trigger the Slack rule because Browser Tamer no longer sees Slack as the source.
The browser picker catches everything else
Sometimes I want to make the call
Automatic rules are great for your daily routine, but sometimes you click a random link and want to choose where it opens on the spot. If you turn on Show on no rule under the Picker menu, Browser Tamer will pop up a circular menu with all your browsers whenever a link doesn’t match an existing rule. This lets you pick a specific browser or profile for that single link without messing up your default backup browser.
For instance, I used this popup to send a random link straight to my main Firefox profile. You can also make this menu pop up anytime using a custom mouse-and-keyboard shortcut, and you can turn on pop-up “toast” notifications to confirm where your link just went. If you hate interruptions and just want your links to open instantly, leave this setting off and let unmatched links go straight to your backup browser.
Browser Tamer has another handy trick: it can strip recognized tracking parameters from links before opening them, and the feature is enabled by default. It won’t replace your browser’s own tracker-blocking protections, but it’s a useful extra if you’re tired of opening URLs stuffed with unnecessary tracking junk.
By default, Browser Tamer handles links opened through your system’s default-browser setting. It won’t rearrange existing tabs or automatically redirect ordinary clicks inside a browser window you already have open.
If you want Browser Tamer to open links in specific Firefox Containers, you’ll need the Open external links in a container extension. Regular Firefox profiles don’t require it.
Four browsers, one less headache
I still have four browsers on my laptop, each with its own messy tabs and quirks. But at least I no longer have to wonder which one will open when I click a link in Slack. Browser Tamer gets me to the right account without making me play browser roulette every time.