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Just a few days ago, I am unable to launch weblinks from in my email or any website. Once I click on a link, the program freezes for about 1 minute and then releases itself. It use to always open the site in another browser window. Now I have to copy the link and paste it in the address bar. I do not have any virus or adware causing the problem and the registry check has been ok. It seems like an Explorer issue. The dll's don't register when I do a run on regsvr32. Also, I tried to download IE6.0, I have 5.5. Upon setup, the program crashes and tells me to start again. I do and the same results happen. I can't find a solution. Any help out there. Not being able to click on a link and open it is frustrating.

Jamie

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  • 3 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Blade10878

Dani AI

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The problem described (links clicked from mail/pages briefly hang the host app and nothing opens) usually points to a broken URL-protocol/file-association or a corrupted Internet Explorer component on Windows Me. Replies from and touched on alternate browsers and cache clearing; those are useful quick checks but do not address the underlying registration/handler failures that make clicks fail.

A short diagnostic sequence to isolate the cause:

  • Watch Task Manager while a link is clicked: a browser process (iexplore.exe or another) that starts then dies points to a crash in the handler. No process appearing suggests the protocol handler is not being invoked.
  • Test the registered URL handler independently by running the command below from Start->Run (this opens the default browser via the URL protocol handler):
    rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler http://example.com
  • Create a simple Internet Shortcut (.url) on the desktop and double-click it; behavior here separates shell/file-type association problems from mail-client invocation issues.

If the handler is the problem, repair steps that have fixed this class of failures on Windows Me:

  • Re-register key URL/IE DLLs from the system folder with regsvr32 (run with the full path and quotes). Typical DLLs to re-register include: urlmon.dll, shdocvw.dll, mshtml.dll, actxprxy.dll, browseui.dll, jscript.dll, vbscript.dll. Example:
    regsvr32 "C:\WINDOWS\System32\urlmon.dll"
  • If regsvr32 fails, note the exact error text; failures often mean a missing dependency or a mismatched DLL version. Running the IE setup in a clean-boot environment (use msconfig to disable nonessential startups) reduces installer conflicts.
  • Check these registry locations for obvious corruption and export keys before any edit: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command and the entries for .htm, .html and .url (restore only after backing up).

Cautions and last-resort options: always export registry keys before changes, keep a copy of important data, and consider using System Restore or a repair/reinstall of IE/OS if DLL registration and clean-boot installs fail. Exact error messages from regsvr32 or the IE installer will point to the next, more specific fix.

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Member Avatar for Dortz

www.getfirefox.com

see if you can work with the links with firefox as your default browser. it might be that IE is getting confused when it checks to see if you've already been to a page or not, i'm not sure, but if you have this exact problem with firefox, test it further by setting your cache size to '0' and your history to '0', then clear both, and try it again.

if it doesn't work, i guess we'll go from there.

Member Avatar for Blade10878

I was having a similar problem on AOL not to long ago, I deleted my browser cauche and it helped, but if your not using aol maybe a different route should be used

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