Unable to open links from Outlook due to restrictions

May26
by wingman on May 26, 2011 at 10:14
Posted In: Hints & Tips, Microsoft

A very common question comes up often in the Microsoft forums:

When clicking on a hyperlink in an e-mail, I get this Message : “This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.” I get this message every time that I attempt to use the hyperlink. I am the administrator on this stand alone computer. How do I deactivate this feature so that I activate hyperlinks ?

This is not an Outlook error. The most common cause is a corrupt registry key in Internet Explorer. The registry key found at
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command is either damaged or corrupt.

To fix it, try resetting Web settings in Internet Explorer. If this does not resolve the issue, set IE as the default browser following the steps in Set Program Access in Control Panel. If you use a different browser as your default, you need to set IE as the default until you verify the links work in Outlook.

If you uninstalled Chrome (or Firefox) and then received the error, follow the instructions below

If you received this error after uninstalling any application that takes over the HTML open command (including, but not limited to, Chrome & Firefox browsers) you may also need to change the HTM/HTML association in the registry.

  1. Start, click Run, type Regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
  2. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.html
  3. Right click the value for the .html key and select Modify…
  4. Change the value from “ChromeHTML” to “htmlfile” (or from FireFoxHTML to htmlfile)

Repeat these steps for htm and .shtml keys if they exist. You may also want to check the .xhtml and .xhtm keys.

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How To: Set Program Access in Control Panel

May21
by wingman on May 21, 2011 at 10:10
Posted In: Hints & Tips, Microsoft, Tutorial

Windows XP and Vista allow you to control program defaults through Control Panel. If the above methods fail, use this method to set the default browser.

In Windows XP, go to Add and Remove Programs, Set Program Access and Defaults. In “Choose a default web browser”, check on the “Internet Explorer” option and click the OK button.

In Vista/windows 7, access the Default Programs applet from the Start menu or Control panel. Click on the “Set program access and computer defaults” (last option) then expand Custom. In “Choose a default web browser”, check on the “Internet Explorer” option and click the OK button

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Open a Command Prompt From the Desktop Right-Click Menu

Mar20
by wingman on March 20, 2011 at 20:48
Posted In: Hints & Tips, Microsoft, Tutorial

If you don’t already have a quick launch icon or a hotkey set to open a command prompt, there’s really quick trick that you can do on any Windows 7 or Vista computer to open up a command prompt without having to navigate the menu.

Just hold down the Shift key and right-click on the desktop…

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And then you can choose “Open Command Window Here” from the menu. The great thing about this is that the current path is the desktop, which is convenient for manipulating files on the desktop. Of course you can always right-click on any folder icon in the system while holding down the shift key:

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Or inside any folder:

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The great thing about this trick is that it works when you are working on somebody else’s computer…

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How to update Microsoft Security Essentials behind a proxy

Mar20
by wingman on March 20, 2011 at 09:21
Posted In: Hints & Tips, Microsoft, Tutorial

Microsoft Security Essentials has proven to be a great anti-malware tool because of its lightweight performance.MSE scans efficiently without being heavy on system resources.

However a major problem with Microsoft’s malware solution is that it fails to update when behind used behind a proxy.It gives an error as MSE uses different proxy settings from IE.So even if the logged-in user has a proxy configured MSE completely ignores it and tries to connect directly to the Internet.Security Essentials lacks an option in its GUI to configure its proxy settings.However one can copy IE’s proxy settings to MSE by use of the command prompt.

To update Microsoft security essentials behind a proxy do the following :

  • Open the command prompt as an administrator.Search cmd in start menu,right click on it,and select Run As Administrator.
  • Once in type “proxycfg -u” (without the quotes) if you are using Windows XP,or “netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie” (without quotes) when using Windows Vista/Windows 7 and press enter.

These commands copy the IE proxy settings to MSE and after that it would update normally.

http://www.comptalks.com

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OpenDNS top 10 blocked websites headed by Facebook

Feb08
by wingman on February 8, 2011 at 11:45
Posted In: Internet

Of all the websites in the world, which would you guess are the top 10 most blocked? I’m sure there would be pornographic, religious, file-sharing, and other illegal activity websites on your list somewhere. But OpenDNS has come up with its list for 2010 based on real data, and the results are quite surprising.

The most blocked website is also one of, if not the most popular destination on the web: Facebook. Some of the other nine entries may surprise you too:

  1. Facebook.com —14.2%
  2. MySpace.com — 9.9%
  3. YouTube.com — 8.1%
  4. Doubleclick.net — 6.4%
  5. Twitter.com — 2.3%
  6. Ad.yieldmanager.com — 1.9%
  7. Redtube.com —1.4%
  8. Limewire.com — 1.3%
  9. Pornhub.com —1.2%
  10. Playboy.com — 1.2%

Facebook is also the top whitelisted item which shows you there’s a love/hate relationship going on with users. Business-based PCs in particular don’t like it and the top 3 in the list above are also the top 3 blocked when looking only at business machines.

As opposed to the top 10 blocked sites, the 10 most blocked categories is as expected:

  1. Pornography – 85%
  2. Sexuality – 80.1%
  3. Tasteless – 77.3%
  4. Proxy/Anonymizer – 76.2%
  5. Adware – 69%
  6. Nudity – 67.2%
  7. Hate/Discrimination – 58.7%
  8. Lingerie/Bikini – 58.5%
  9. Gambling – 58%
  10. Drugs – 57.3%

Other interesting facts OpenDNS’s review of 2010 turned up include 45% of all phishing attempts being targeted at PayPal, and the top 5 most-phished brands were:

  1. Facebook
  2. World of Warcraft
  3. Sulake Corporation (Habbo)
  4. Steam
  5. Tibia (online games)

While OpenDNS can only base its results on the traffic it handles, that’s a significant amount of traffic. It’s the largest global DNS service and resolves 30 billion DNS queries a day and services 15 million requesting IPs every day too. Even so, that’s only 1% of the Internet’s population worldwide.

Read more at the OpenDNS press release, via Crenk

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