Cannot open e_mail links

[New Judge]

Suddenly I cannot open web links from e-Mail messages. When trying to do so I get a message:

“This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator”

This seems to have occurred since I uninstalled Google Silver and Google Earth. I’ve tried a solution I found via Help which suggests I go to “Start – Default Programs – Set Program Access and Computer Defaults”. Then “Custom” and “Internet Explorer”. However, this does not seem to be effective. The problem remains and when I return to the “Set Program Access and Computer Defaults” screen I find my "Internet Explorer" choice has not been applied.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[DTCwordfan]

what server NJ as hotmail and some yahoo accounts have massive issues with spammers latching onto accounts at the moment and then using them to send messages on - some relatively benign which happened to me on yahoo and some malicious, esp hotmail.

[New Judge]

No, don't use those, DT. Use bt.com.

[DTCwordfan]

have you tried a password change or can you even get that far in?

[Buenchico]

This is the route which I'd use to set Internet Explorer as the default browser:
http://windows.micros...r-default-web-browser

Chris

[New Judge]

Hi Both. Thanks for your answers.

I never have to do anything with passwords, DT. I can get into Outlook perfectly well. The only thing I cannot do when in is to get to a web page via a link provided in a mail message. I get the error message as I described.

I tried your suggested route to set the default browser, Chris. Unfortunately the "Set Default" button is "greyed out" and ineffective.

As I said, this seems to have started since I uninstalled Google Earth and Google Silver (whatever that is). I never used either of them and Google somehow seemed to interfere with opening links from e-Mails (some links seemed to open with Google instead of IE and did not display properly).

I'm a bit stumped!

[Buenchico]

System Restore will probably reset the association between URLs in emails and Internet Explorer. Alternatively try installing a different browser (e.g. Firefox) and using that as your default browser.

[New Judge]

Hi Chris and DT.

Did a bit of tidying up (defrag, full virus scan - one or two found plus a load of tracking cookies) followed by a reboot and all seems to be OK now.

Machine has been running slow for ages now and sometimes fails to restart after closing down or hibernating. I also encounter odd problems like this one, so I think it needs a good clean up.

Thanks again to you both for taking the trouble to help.