SOLVED Can not get Outook 2010 to work with hyperlinks

[scubatony]

Hi There people

When trying to click on the hyperlink on an email in Outlook 2010 and I am getting this message

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

Just an afterthought

I am running Windows 7 x64

Intel Quad 2.5ghz

2tb HDD

8 gb memory

Office 2010

I am the sytstem admistrator as I built the machine ! ! ! ! ! !

Regards

Tony

 

[TrainableMan]

I actually did see this back when you posted and even ran a few searches but I didn't find anything I thought would help.

Hyperlinks normally work simply because the .htm or .html file extension is recognized as a file association to your default browser so first thing would be to verify that you do in fact have a browser set up as your default in control panel > default programs. It is rare to fine someone doesn't have a default browser set up so I doubt this is the problem.

The second thing I looked for were settings in my outlook 2010 that might block links:
1. If you look under the "File" tab the possibilities I considered are "options" as well as "Info ... Account Settings" and "Info ... Rules & Alerts"...
But I didn't really find any settings I thought related to blocking hyperlinks.
- In Options ... Mail ... Editor Options ... Advanced, there is a setting "Use Ctrl + click to follow hyperlink". Mine is checked so if yours is not then check it to see but again I doubt this is your issue.
-Under "Info ... Account Settings" there isn't really anything related that I see
-and Under "Info ... Rules & Alerts" I don't really use this so I don't have anything here but one default thing to suppress categories in mail so I don't know if this could be used to block hyperlinks as you are experiencing, but again i think it unlikely.

2. Now on my Outlook under the "add-ins" tab I have "email filtering" which points to my anti-virus. I suppose it is possible your A/V may somehow redirect hyperlinks, but to be honest I doubt it, simply because you get the "operation cancelled" message when you actually click the hyperlink rather than seeing a message such as "link blocked for or by something or other" where the hyperlink would be.

Third possibility would be a registry or group policy setting. I'm sure it's possible but I don't know of/can't find any that would help. And it is unlikely you would have done this without remembering unless it was changed through something like a tweaker program. I use Tune-Up Utilities and it can definitely make registry tweaks so if you use something like that I suppose you may have accidentally set something that blocks hyperlinks but again I wouldn't have a clue as to what and you would have to carefully review all your settings. (NOTE: If it has never worked then I do not think this is even a possibility but if it "used to work" and suddenly doesn't then this is something to consider and if you can't figure out how to undo it then you may have to seriously consider a W7 reinstall.)

And my final idea would be in your browser security settings but if that were the case I would expect some links would work while other blocked sites would not.

So it isn't that I didn't read your post or even give it considerable thought and search effort, unfortunately I just didn't come up with any ideas I thought of value, sorry.

 

[scubatony]

I actually did see this back when you posted and even ran a few searches but I didn't find anything I thought would help.

Hyperlinks normally work simply because the .htm or .html file extension is recognized as a file association to your default browser so first thing would be to verify that you do in fact have a browser set up as your default in control panel > default programs. It is rare to fine someone doesn't have a default browser set up so I doubt this is the problem.

The second thing I looked for were settings in my outlook 2010 that might block links:
1. If you look under the "File" tab the possibilities I considered are "options" as well as "Info ... Account Settings" and "Info ... Rules & Alerts"...
But I didn't really find any settings I thought related to blocking hyperlinks.
- In Options ... Mail ... Editor Options ... Advanced, there is a setting "Use Ctrl + click to follow hyperlink". Mine is checked so if yours is not then check it to see but again I doubt this is your issue.
-Under "Info ... Account Settings" there isn't really anything related that I see
-and Under "Info ... Rules & Alerts" I don't really use this so I don't have anything here but one default thing to suppress categories in mail so I don't know if this could be used to block hyperlinks as you are experiencing, but again i think it unlikely.

2. Now on my Outlook under the "add-ins" tab I have "email filtering" which points to my anti-virus. I suppose it is possible your A/V may somehow redirect hyperlinks, but to be honest I doubt it, simply because you get the "operation cancelled" message when you actually click the hyperlink rather than seeing a message such as "link blocked for or by something or other" where the hyperlink would be.

Third possibility would be a registry or group policy setting. I'm sure it's possible but I don't know of/can't find any that would help. And it is unlikely you would have done this without remembering unless it was changed through something like a tweaker program. I use Tune-Up Utilities and it can definitely make registry tweaks so if you use something like that I suppose you may have accidentally set something that blocks hyperlinks but again I wouldn't have a clue as to what and you would have to carefully review all your settings. (NOTE: If it has never worked then I do not think this is even a possibility but if it "used to work" and suddenly doesn't then this is something to consider and if you can't figure out how to undo it then you may have to seriously consider a W7 reinstall.)

And my final idea would be in your browser security settings but if that were the case I would expect some links would work while other blocked sites would not.

So it isn't that I didn't read your post or even give it considerable thought and search effort, unfortunately I just didn't come up with any ideas I thought of value, sorry.

Hi There

First of all thanks for your help.

The first thing that did was print out your advice and I went over it step by step.

A couple of things that I did notice

1. I have somehow installed Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer 64bit
2. My Kaspersky 2013 settings are set to high, I reset them and rebooted and still no difference.
3. If I open a new word document and type in www.google.co.uk then move my mouse to hover over the link, I get a description of the link, if I then press Ctrl and hover it changes to a hand, but does not take me to Google ! ! !

The only thing that I can think of is Google is not a genuine website, NAH seriously Outlook comes from Office and Word comes from Office, so it looks like a re-install of Office 2010 is on the cards.

Whats your thoughts

BTW great avatar

Tony

 

[TrainableMan]

First, all 64-bit W7 installs (except the European E? or N?-version which gets No browser) will have both IE and IE-64 installed; however the 32-bit version is still the default so that is not of concern.

You could try reinstalling office, it won't hurt anything but I don't suspect it will help.

So this is also an issue in other software like Word, not just Outlook, that is additional info I did not have before. I think within Internet explorer you should check your internet options and see to what security levels are set. I can't think of what exactly you should look for but go to Tools ... Internet Options and try some lower security levels (just record what they are before you change them so you can set them back if it doesn't help.

 

[scubatony]

First, all 64-bit W7 installs (except the European E? or N?-version which gets No browser) will have both IE and IE-64 installed; however the 32-bit version is still the default so that is not of concern.

You could try reinstalling office, it won't hurt anything but I don't suspect it will help.

So this is also an issue in other software like Word, not just Outlook, that is additional info I did not have before. I think within Internet explorer you should check your internet options and see to what security levels are set. I can't think of what exactly you should look for but go to Tools ... Internet Options and try some lower security levels (just record what they are before you change them so you can set them back if it doesn't help.

Hi There

First things first

I have submitted a thread to Microsoft I hope that it gets some results, please see the link;

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...not-work/0a188ae9-f8b8-4dcf-a0b3-ca549416c140

Regarding your reply.

As you know Word and Outlook come from the same family, so my reasoning is the problem lies with Office 2010

Regarding internet options and security levels I think somebody in another Forum advised me to do that, which I did and still NO result.

Something that I have not told you but will not help but for your information anyway.

One of my laptops runs Windows 7 and Office 2010 and I have no problems there, I have checked the settings all same etc, and it is from the same disc.


Once again many thanks for your continuing help.


Tony

 

[TrainableMan]

Because Word and Outlook do not have a common location for settings I would NOT believe it is office but rather the common program they both call which is IE. And from what I have just found I believe it is a good possibility it is the registry settings for IE at HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command.

See the information and suggested solution HERE.

 

[scubatony]

Because Word and Outlook do not have a common location for settings I would NOT believe it is office but rather the common program they both call which is IE. And from what I have just found I believe it is a good possibility it is the registry settings for IE at HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command.

See the information and suggested solution HERE.

Hi There this relies on the following;

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command

Which I already have

 

[TrainableMan]

Yes, apparently the problem is some of the entries under there get corrupted. As I suggested several posts back it could be a registry issue. The article mentions a possible way or two to try and correct it. If that doesn't work then you might also compare each and every entry under that registry folder with your machine that does work and correct the registry entries that don't match. Or you might consider a complete Win 7 reinstall so you start with a brand new registry.

 

[scubatony]

It look like I may have found a fix;

http://www.msoutlook.info/question/242

I have downloaded missing registry entries and tried www.google.co.uk
and tried some other links in Outlook they all work.

I am now going to try another link within Outlook and it still works, I have also tried writing www.google.co.uk in a word document and it worked.

I am now going to reboot and see if it still works

 

[scubatony]

I thought before I reboot I will just try again;

So I have just clicked the above Google link and it worked

 

[scubatony]

This works


http://www.msoutlook.info/question/242

This works www.google.co.uk

It looks like I may have cracked it, because several emails have come in and they are in different email accounts.

 

[TrainableMan]

I will go ahead and mark this solved. Glad you got it working.

 

[scubatony]

This really is weird

I tried it before and it worked "yipee" THEN just tried a few minutes ago and it didn't work ! ! ! ! ! !

Now this time I used the same links to try it, before and after.

I have just downloaded that registry fixing link found here;

http://www.msoutlook.info/question/242

Guess what ?

YEP you are right IT WORKS

I am going to submit this and then reboot and see if everything is OK.

I will let you know the outcome

 

[scubatony]

Looks like it has worked of sorts

The reason being I clicked on the link in Outlook this morning and it worked.

A few minutes ago I clicked on the same link and it didn't work.

I have just now re-installed the missing registry items ( using the software as seen in previous post ) and clicked on the same link and it works.

So my question is;

How can I keep loosing registry entries, reinstall them again yet to lose them yet again, this has happened several times.

 

[TrainableMan]

Every time a user logs in thier settings are copied to the "current" location (that way each user gets settings specific to them). So, if this "fix" you are doing goes away every time you reboot then there is likely something wrong in the core area and you aren't fixing that, you are only fixing "current".

Once you get registry corruption the best option is to completely reinstall windows but what you might try, if you aren't willing to reinstall, is to create a brand new userid and try using that instead. If all works in the new ID then you can copy your stuff over and delete the old one..

 

[scubatony]

I thought before I reboot I will just try again;

So I have just clicked the above Google link and it worked

At long last I have now found out what the problem is;

If I click on ANY link in outlook they do not work
If I open I.E to my home page or anything else and click any link in Outlook it works
If I pin I.E to the task bar it works.

Now I have another problem;

Sometimes only sometimes Outook stops responding and I have to restart it.

My understanding is that Outlook comes from the Office family and I.E is part of the OS.

While I am / was having these problems I have been considering "Windows Live Essentials".

1 Is it any good ?
2 Will I be able to migrate all my emails across ?
3 Can I use my existing email accounts ?
4 Should I just stick with where I am ?

 

[scubatony]

I thought before I reboot I will just try again;

So I have just clicked the above Google link and it worked

I have now narrowed it down to the following to make it work.

1. Pin I.E. to the taskbar
2. Open another I.E ( my home page is about:blank ) ,but it doesn't matter
3. Then open Outlook click on the link and it works.

Seems a bit weird to me as Outlook comes from the Office family and I.E. is part of the O.S