23rd September 2002
Question: I upgraded to Internet Explorer 6.0 and now I get an error message in Outlook 2002 whenever I click on a hyperlink that says, "this operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." Is there a way to fix this or do I have to go back to an older version of Internet Explorer?
Answer: Don't worry, you won't have to go back to an older version of Internet Explorer. You are getting this error because the following registry key is either missing or went corrupt; HKEY_Local_Machine \ Software \ Classes \ htmlfile \ shell \ open \ command. There are two possible fixes so we will start with the easiest one first. The first fix involves resetting the Web settings in Internet Explorer. You do this by starting Internet Explorer and then open Tools|Internet Options|Programs. On the Programs tab you will see a button you can click that says "Reset Web Settings", click that, then choose Apply and OK. The second fix should only be used if the first fix doesn't work, as it relies on you exporting a registry key from another computer and importing that key into your registry. To export the appropriate registry you need to go to another computer with Internet Explorer 6.0 and then open the Registry Editor by clicking Start, Run, then type "regedit" (sans quotes) in the open box and click OK. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the above mentioned registry key and click on the command folder. To export that registry key just click on the File (or Registry) menu, click Export and choose the name and location of where you want to save the exported registry key (I recommend saving it directly to a floppy disk to save time). You can now close the Registry Editor and take your REG file to your computer. To import the registry key on your computer all you have to do is double-click on the REG file you got from the other computer and click Yes when it asks if you want to copy this information to the registry. All that is left is restarting the computer and you should be fine now.