Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are designed to work together, however, sometimes people end up in a situation where these two programs won’t play nice anymore. If your web site links in Outlook Express don’t open in Internet Explorer anymore, you can copy and paste the address into the Internet Explorer address bar to open the Web site, but going through that process can become tedious.
Sometimes the problem relates to an overzealous firewall or pop-up blocker program. If your links suddenly stop working after you’ve installed one of these programs, check your settings and see if there’s a way you can set an “exception” so the windows open again.
If that’s not an issue, check your Internet Explorer settings. Choose Tools|Internet Options. In the Programs tab, make sure Outlook Express is your default email program and click Reset Web Settings. In the dialog box that appears, remove the check mark next to Also reset my home page and then click Yes. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.
If you are still having problems, click Start and then Run. In the dialog box, type regsvr32 urlmon.dll and click OK. If that doesn’t help, you also can fix the file associations to tell Windows that Internet Explorer is the program to use to open Web site URLs. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop. Choose Tools|Folder Options. In the File Types tab, in the Registered file types area, scroll down until you find (NONE) URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol. Be sure the line is highlighted and click the Advanced button. The Edit File Type dialog box should show open in the Actions box. If you don’t see open, click the New button, type open in the Action box, and click OK. Back in the Edit File Type dialog box, click open and then the Edit button. You should see “C:PROGRA~1INTERN~1iexplore.exe” %1 in the Application used to perform action box. If it’s not there, type it in (including the quotation marks).