associating gmail email as default

[Windymiller]

When I click on email links in web pages I am advised there is no email programme associated with my computer. I have checked on default programmes in tools in IE 11 and the box for use current email programme is checked.
Is it because I am using gmail. I do not like Windows Live Mail, nor Outlook. Is there anything I can do about this
I also use some Gandi mail addresses. But I cannot see any place to link a specific email programme by name.

 

[TrainableMan]

It is looking for a mail association to a program on your computer, not to web-based mail

 

[Windymiller]

Sorry for never replying to this. Found I had joined 2 help forums with extremely similar names www.windowssevenforums.com and www.w7forums.com so hadgot very confused. Re: mail association to a program I do not understand what this means. Sorry to be dumb. Could you explain in words of one, or maybe even half, a syllable. Thanks for your reply.

 

[TrainableMan]

Files use an extension to designate the type of file, for example test.txt, demo.txt, & notes.txt would all be text documents which can be opened by a program such as Notepad.exe (the .exe extension means notepad is an "executable," a program that can run in the Windows OS). So in the windows control panel "Default programs" is used to tell W7 which program should be used to open which file extension. This is known as a file association because you are associating all files that end with .txt with a program like Notepad.

So the problem when you click on email links in web pages is that there is no mail program on your computer assigned in "Default Programs" and therefore your computer doesn't know what to do. It sounds like you do not have a mail program installed on your computer, instead you use web-based mail. That's fine but then you cannot click on the link, instead you would need to open your web-based mail and create a New message and type or paste the email address you found on whatever website you were visiting.

 

[Windymiller]

Thanks very much. That is very clear. Both of my email programs are web based.