Why am I seeing this dialog?

Internet Explorer 8 has a new feature that keeps you in control of your search engine default, by informing you when software attempts to change your settings.

If you are using Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 or RC1, you might have seen the following dialog when installing new software:

search provider default confirmation dialog. The dialog asks the user to confirm or decline a change to the default search provider.

The default search preference is the search engine Internet Explorer uses when you type a search query into the search box in the top-right corner of the main Internet Explorer window:

the IE search box

(Wikipedia is set as my default.)

Internet Explorer also use the default search preference when you type a question into the address bar – Try typing “How high is Mt Everest” into the address bar.

A lot of toolbars that plug into Internet Explorer modify the user’s search preference in their installer program. Some ask (by way of a checkbox in their install program) if they should change it.

Some don’t ask clearly, and change your setting without you noticing the change before it happens. We believe this is not a good thing – a program should never change a user’s setting without their unambiguous consent.
Continue reading here....