More Internet Explorer problems

Issues related to default browser settings

IE (Internet Explorer) is full of bugs. Use Firefox instead - download it from the sidebar on the right.

Problems continued -

Error messages when attempting to send a page or link by e-mail

First, reset your default e-mail client from within Internet Explorer. To do this go to Tools, then Internet Options, then Programs, then select your e-mail program of choice.

The easiest way to set your default e-mail client is from within Internet Explorer

Sometimes your e-mail program will not appear in the drop down list shown above. When this happens, we need to re-register the program in question.

To re-register your e-mail program:

1.	Click Start, then click Run, and then type the appropriate command based on the following e-mail programs: Outlook Express: "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\Msimn.Exe" /reg Outlook: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office\outlook.exe" /checkclient

Make sure the path to msimn.exe or outlook.exe is correct for your machine. Type the command line exactly as it appears, including quote marks and spaces.

If using a non-Microsoft e-mail program:

A program must be Internet Explorer aware to automatically list itself as a default program option. If the program does not appear, there are a couple of things you can do. First, you can right-click the executable file for the program, and see if Register appears as an option, (which should cause the program to be listed on the drop box on the Program Tab)

Otherwise, there's a manual method, but it involves editing the registry and adding the program under:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Clients\mail
-or-
HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\Software\Clients\news

You will need to contact your program's vendor for the appropriate syntax.

Hyperlinks not working

Hyperlinks will not work if a computer system does not know which Web browser is set as the default, which happens if the settings that control this choice are damaged or incorrect. The easiest way to fix the problem is to allow your preferred Web browser to rewrite the appropriate settings by resetting your default browser. Rather than walk through the steps required to achieve this in this column, I refer you to my previous column about how to set up your browser as the default.

"Open in new Window" doesn't work

Sometimes resetting our default browser is not enough to get hyperlinks to work again, especially if they trigger a new window. Open in new window is dependent upon several system files, therefore you should ensure they are correctly registered.

Click on Start, then Run, then run the following commands. After you run each command, a small window should appear stating that the command was successful.

regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll (if that doesn't work, try shdoc401.dll)
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Urlmon.dll

Some programs that control pop-up windows and advertisements can stop hyperlinks from working. Also, some third-party add-ins are known to cause a problem and must be uninstalled when misbehaving in this way. Disable all third-party Internet related programs (not your firewall) and test.