After installing Office 2003 on a Dell 1330 with Vista Home Premium, the
default mail tool changed, of course, from Thunderbird to Outlook. I
uninstalled Outlook, and the default email tool changed to Windows Mail.

I have tried using the Default Programs control panel and other means to
change the default email tool back to Thunderbird, to no avail. Each time it
starts it asks me whether I want Thunderbird to be the default. Each time I
click yes, but the setting doesn't hold.

I have gone through all the usual steps to define Thunderbird as the
default. In Windows Mail, the option to change it so that it is not the
default is mysteriously grayed out.

Any suggestions how to get around this? Windows Mail seems more like a virus
to me than a legitimate piece of software. It doesn't even show up in the
list of Windows services, so I can't even turn it off!

What's so weird about this is that it all worked fine until I installed
Office 2003 ... now, I can't change the default mail tool.

And, yes, I am signed in as admin.

Thanks,
Craig