Missing link

System: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz, 1GB DDR RAM, Windows XP Home (SP3)

Q: On a friend’s PC, a hyperlink in Outlook Express when clicked does nothing – hovering the mouse over it does not result in the cursor turning to a hand as it should. A URL shortcut on the desktop when double-clicked, instead of opening Internet Explorer, just opens the Open With dialog with Internet Explorer highlighted and the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file box not ticked. If this box is then ticked and OK clicked, Internet Explorer then opens the website.

However, the next time the shortcut is double-clicked, the same thing happens. There is some type of file association problem with Windows. Attempting to manually edit the settings for HTM and HTML file types to open with Internet Explorer also fails to solve the issue.

This issue may have been caused by the following sequence of events. The computer crashed and would not boot. A repair reinstallation of Windows XP SP 3 failed and it was necessary to do a full reinstall. Internet Explorer was then updated to IE 8. After this Outlook Express wouldn’t work with the ISP, but wouldn’t reinstall due to IE 8. Uninstalling IE 8 and reinstalling Outlook Express and then reinstalling IE 8 allowed Outlook Express to work with the ISP settings. Everything appeared to be working correctly, but then a couple of weeks later with this issue arose.

Hope you can come up with a solution, otherwise I’ll have to do a format and start again.

A: This is a relatively common problem as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer share may of their settings, but the fix isn’t always straightforward. The first thing to do is make sure IE and OE are both closed, go to Control Panel and open the Internet Options applet. Click on the Programs tab and tick the Internet Explorer Should Check to see Whether it is the Default Browser box. Next open My Computer from the Start menu, click Tools/ Folder Options and go to the File Types tab. Locate and highlight (NONE) URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol click Advanced, highlight Open, click Remove, then Yes and OK. Now launch Internet Explorer.

If that doesn’t solve things you may need to re-register IE’s .dll files. Click Start/ Run and type in iexplore /rereg. If it still doesn’t work after that go to Start/ Run again and type the following, pressing Enter after each regsvr32 urlmon.dll – regsvr32 shdocvw.dll – regsvr32 mshtml.dll and finally regsvr32 browseui.dll then try IE again.

If that still doesn’t solve things take a look at this Microsoft Knowledgebase article and try the Fix It link.

The other approach is to try installing a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome as this is an issue which usually only afflicts Internet Explorer.

Making Internet Explorer the default browser should ensure that it opens links from Outlook Express

Originally featured in PCU134