changing isp for the first time

[willythecat]

Don't laugh, but l have an old dial-up modem to the ISP Wanadoo, aka Orange, in France. My line has now been upgraded so l can now get broadband and l have changed supplier to a company called Free.fr (the new "box" should be arriving any day now). Getting a bit excited 'cos download speeds should be really good!!
The only drawback is it'll all be in blimmin' French, which l can just about cope with, but..... should l remove all programs to do with Orange before installing the new ISP software or leave well alone until l am up and running with the new supplier?  (l'll probably have to remove all to do with Orange from the startup file before installing the new isp).
Does this make sense, and is there anything else l should be aware of?
Thanks

[Rob Pomeroy]

Patience Willy.  When your new service is activated, then you can uninstall the old software. 

[willythecat]

Thanks Rob, good advice as it so happened!
Got the new box (which came with an ethernet cable, whereas my old one was usb), plugged it in and zilch! Finally discovered that my via ethernet adapter was disabled, enabled it, and l am now on. Never set up a network device myself, so fingers crossed, getting there slowly.
Right, final problem. Somebody set up my old ISP system so that all l had on the desktop was the IE icon, renamed as Internet. Clicked on it and it took me straight in to that ISP.
If l click on it now, it still comes up with my old ISP address and obviously says cannot connect.
How can l click on this icon so that it takes me to my new ISP provider?

[willythecat]

Strike that last one out, apart from the thanking Rob bit.
Sussed it out and it's now working a treat.
Regards

[willythecat]

Whoops, spoke too soon, and although l am somehow connected to my new ISP, possibly by sheer luck on my behalf, l think something is not right!
Quite a few questions arise, but not being fully conversant with networking thought l'd tackle each one at a time if that's ok with you guys, so -
I've now got my IE desktop icon that when selected, logs me into my new ISP.
However, the blue header bar, whislt showing me where l am at, is always followed by the word "wanadoo" which was my old ISP. How do l change this so that it shows my new ISP?
Thanks
 

[BC_Programmer]

try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176497

[willythecat]

Thanks BC, that worked fine. (never would have figured it out myself).
Second problem is on the IE8 ad-ons, the "envelope " for reading mail tries to fire up my old ISP, and Outlook Express starts up with the old ISP icon on its toolbar.
So how to l get the read mail icon to look at my new ISP?
Thanks for being patient.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Oh no, not IE8.   

Have you got the settings for a new email account with your new ISP?  Have you set it up in Outlook Express?  Don't worry about what the icons look like - as long as OE is configured correctly (and the old email settings are removed, if necessary), you'll be fine.

[willythecat]

Thank you Rob,
Yep, IE8 l'm afraid. Slipped through on one of those automatic updates, but have to admit l haven't had too many problems with it as late.
Anyway, l have my new email account so went into OE, accounts, and saw there was only one there. Created a new account, and in it's properties put my new ISP's details, and set it as the default. Went back to IE8 and selected the read mail icon. Still tries to open OE using my old ISP.
Checked accounts again in OE and it has auto switched the default account back to the old one (Grrr). Back into OE and l deleted the old account leaving just my new one.
Same routine, selected read mail icon in IE, and same thing blimmin' happens. Went back to OE and it has reinserted the deleted account and named it as the default?
Totally confused now as to how and why it's doing this.