If e-mail links on fritz, try fixing Windows

Special to The Seattle Times

Q: All of a sudden, clicking on active links or URLs in my incoming e-mails gives me "this operation cancelled due to restrictions on this computer, see your administrator." This just started for no apparent reason. I've gone through every security screen on Outlook and Internet Explorer, and set everything to minimum security, turned off the Windows firewall, and even removed McAfee from my computer, but nothing works. I also did a "repair" of Outlook. I'm left with a clean reinstall at this point, first of just Outlook, and then the whole machine unless you have any ideas. I can open e-mail attachments just fine.

This is a 2-year-old Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop with 2 gigabytes of RAM and a 100-gigabyte hard drive running fully updated Vista and Office 2003 Professional, and everything else is fine. Not being able to open HTML links embedded in words in my e-mails is a real problem since I have to find them in the source and copy them. I'm at a total loss!

Stuart MacMillan

A: Generally, when the ability to follow links disappears, it's because somehow Windows has lost track of what you want to do when you click on a hyperlink in Outlook messages. The most common reason for that is the installation of another browser or other Internet-related application.

To fix the problem, you need to re-establish the file association of URL links. There are a couple of ways to do this. The easier way is to use the file-type association utility.

In Vista, go to the Control Panel and select Default Programs. Next, click on "Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program." You'll then see a list of file types along with their associated programs. Scroll down the list until you can select "URL." Make sure that the program specified is Internet Explorer. If it's not, click on the Change Program button and select Internet Explorer.

The specific error message you're getting, however, is likely the result of a missing or corrupt key in the Windows registry: HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command. That's a little trickier to fix, but Microsoft has detailed instructions for doing so available at the Microsoft support site. At www.microsoft.com go to the Support menu and select Knowledge Base. Then search for article ID 310049.

Q: I was reading your answer to the gentleman who liked to download e-books, and I wanted to remind you that the Seattle Public Library allows card holders to download books, both audio and Adobe and e-book style, free.

Personally, I only use the audio book option, and for that there are a couple thousand titles, and a wealth of mystery books. I am able to check out up to 20 at one time (again, free) and they "disappear" from my computer after three weeks, but remain forever on my MP3 player once transferred. Those with iPods were out of luck until just a few months ago because of license problems, but now there are an increasing number of titles available for iPod listeners, as well.

Dorothy Frisch

A: I just bought my wife a Creative Zen MP3 player for listening to audio books downloaded from the library on her walks. As it happens, the library's Web site still indicates that the only compatible players are from Creative Labs and Archos, and it specifically says iPod and Zune are not supported. The cited reason is that iPods and Zunes don't support digital-rights management, a copy-protection system.

I haven't heard back yet from the library about iPod support, though I will add a note to this column when I do.

Questions for Patrick Marshall may be sent by e-mail to pmarshall@seattletimes.com or pgmarshall@pgmarshall.net, or by mail at Q&A/Technology, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.