[Bob in St. Louis]

I've reloaded one of my PCs at home with Windows Tiny XP and the various pieces of software needed to perform the tasks I need it to perform, but have run into two odd things I've never experienced before and can't find a solution.
Note; This is a "dumb" PC, meaning I don't need (or want) anything fancy, no bells or whistles.

 -When I press Shift and the number 2, I get a quote mark ----------> "
And when I press Shift and the quote mark, I get the 'at' symbol ----> @
And Shift and the number three I get the -----> £ symbol

I found a section in Control Panel [Regional and Language Options] and changed the language from English UK to English US.
That's the only thing I could find, but still the same thing.

The other thing.... if I'm in an email and there's a link, nothing happens when I click it. What I want, is for the link to open in another tab.
I've been through the settings and checked the box that enables tabbed browsing, and selected 'Always switch to new tabs when they are created'.
I downloaded IE7Pro thinking that would fix this one, to no avail. This is such a stupid thing, but I've not been able to find the 'button' to chance the preference. 


It's got the latest updates for IE8 as of a couple days ago.
Specs:  Tiny XP Pro SP2 IE8

TIA!
Bob

[Mike Nomad]

Bob,

I think the solution to your email problem will be found in the configuration of the email client. If you try to click on a link and nothing is happening, it sounds like the email is being read as txt, not html. That is a preference that all clients I know of allow to be configured.

No idea on your key combination stuff.

Mike

[srb]

Under Control Panel > Regional & Language Options
 
Besides changing to English (United States) on the Regional Options tab, have you also changed the Input Language under the Languages tab?
 
Languages Tab:
 
1. Click "Details" button under "Text services and input languages"
2. Click "Add" button under "Installed services"
3. Choose: "English (United States)" > "Keyboard - US"
4. Remove the "English (UK)" item and any others you don't want
5. Reboot
 
Steve

[srb]

I assume you are not using webmail and are using Outlook Express or another local e-mail client program.  Have you installed any other browsers in addition to Internet Explorer?
 
If so, making another browser the default (Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Set Program Access and Defaults) and then switching back to Internet Explorer as the default sometimes solves the problem of e-mail hyperlinks not working.
 
If that's not the case or if it still doesn't work, there are some other steps that you can try to fix it:
 
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_fix_links.htm (Windows 98/2000/XP section)
 
Steve

[Bob in St. Louis]

You guys are good. 

I'll check when I go home tonight. I did select "US" in two places in the Regional settings, but did not go under the [Detail] section.

Thank you very much! 
Bob

[Bob in St. Louis]

1. Click "Details" button under "Text services and input languages"
2. Click "Add" button under "Installed services"
3. Choose: "English (United States)" > "Keyboard - US"
4. Remove the "English (UK)" item and any others you don't want
5. Reboot

That fixed the keyboard layout! Thank you very much Steve! 
I did get an error message that "Windows could not properly load the English (US) keyboard layout", but it works normal regardless.

I haven't had time to fix the email clicky problem.

Thank fellas! 
Bob

[Bob in St. Louis]

I assume you are not using webmail and are using Outlook Express or another local e-mail client program.  Have you installed any other browsers in addition to Internet Explorer?
 
If so, making another browser the default (Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Set Program Access and Defaults) and then switching back to Internet Explorer as the default sometimes solves the problem of e-mail hyperlinks not working.
 
If that's not the case or if it still doesn't work, there are some other steps that you can try to fix it:
 
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_fix_links.htm (Windows 98/2000/XP section)
 
Steve

Hey Steve.
I'm using IE with XP and att.yahoo mail. There has never been another browser installed.

I tried your suggestion, and all of them on the link you provided. Still no go. 

In most cases I can hold the Ctrl button while I'm clicking it and it'll open in another tab.

There are times when even that doesn't work. Interestingly enough, here on AC the [more] button to the right of the smiley's.
If I click it, it takes me to the top of the page. If I hold Ctrl, it opens a duplicate page, in another tab.
I can't open that one to save my life. No way, no how. There are more important times when I can't open something, that's just the first one that came to mind.

Thank you VERY much for the help Steve and Mike. I'll keep digging. 

Bob

[ArthurDent]

Morning Bob,

No IT expert here, but a thought. Am using Windows Live Mail as my Outlook Express crashed a while back for unknown reasons. Switched while working on a solution and never went back. Anyway, don't know if it would apply, but in the Tools section of the Live Mail, Safety Options, the top section Virus Protection, there is a box that says ' do not allow saving or opening of attachments that might potentially be a virus'. I'm sure Outlook Express had the same box somewhere. If that box is checked it might look at links as an 'attachment' as well and not allow them to open.  Something to check in any case, hope it helps.

JD

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks JD.
I don't have Windows Live Mail (not sure what it is), but I ran through the internet tools in IE for my Yahoo/AT&T mail and clicked a few things that appeared relevant to links and how they work. Also a few things on Tabs, and how they operate when something is clicked on.
To no avail. 

Thanks for the attempts guys.
Bob

[ArthurDent]

Bob -
It's just a newer email program from Mr. Softie (MicroSoft)  that was free. Has some added features over Outlook Express, and of course some added aggrevations. From the earlier comments I was thinking it might be a setting in your email program rather than the browser. Hope you track it down without too much frustration. Ain't computers fun        

[srb]

If I now understand you correctly, although you mentioned links not working in "e-mail", this is a soley a browser/hyperlink issue, and links are not opening in another window or another tab on any website - is that correct?
 
Steve

[Bob in St. Louis]

No worries JD, I thank you for the assistance, and the attempt. It's all good.
No....I have a love hate relationship with PCs.

Hey Steve,
I've having issues with both email and websites.
As I mentioned, the strangest problem (albeit a small one, but a possible clue) is the [more] button to the right of our smilies here doesn't work (scroll up a bit for a deeper explanation).
Also, in an email, nothing happens when I click a link. I have to hold the [Ctrl] button for it to open in a new tab. That in itself isn't a big deal but.... 

Thanks Steve,
Bob

[srb]

Bob,
 
Why don't you install Firefox as a troubleshooting tool and see if you get the same behavior with it as you are now with IE?  (Before you do, make sure you at least have tried Compatibility Mode by toggling the IE Compatibility View icon (if visible) at the right side of the Address Bar, but I suspect that probably won't make a difference.
 
Besides troubleshooting for this problem, Firefox comes in handy when a website doesn't function properly in Internet Explorer (What?  A Microsoft product that doesn't function perfectly?  Blasphemous!).
 
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
 
You can always uninstall it if you want to, and in my experience Firefox has always uninstalled cleanly without leaving file or registry remnants behind.
 
Steve
 
 

[totoro]

I have windows on a vm with ie9, which is the current ie (you might want to try that). I couldn't find it in this version of ie, but if I remember correctly, there used to be a setting to enable/disable javascript opening new windows or tabs.

The "more smiley" link at this site uses javascript to pop up a new window with extra smileys. I would guess that your version of ie comes with the setting to disable javascript popups by default.

I would give ie9, or better yet any one of chrome, firefox, or opera, a try and test if you still see the same behavior.

Otherwise, I would go through your internet options in ie and see if there is any setting having to do with javascript and popups.

[srb]

I would give ie9, or better yet any one of chrome, firefox, or opera, a try and test if you still see the same behavior.

Internet Explorer 9 does not run on Windows XP.
 
Steve
 

[totoro]

Internet Explorer 9 does not run on Windows XP.
 
Steve

Good point. I have windows 7 running in a vm, and haven't run xp in a long time (nor windows full time). I would still try pretty much any other browser first (I think this is the advice you gave as well ), and then look at the javascript settings on that version of ie.

[totoro]

The ie settings I was thinking of are in the Privacy section of options.
To get there, you check on the little gear icon at the far right of the ie toolbar, and then click on the Privacy tab.
You'll see a checkbox for enabling pop-up blocking. Try unchecking that and seeing if your smiley popup works, if you decide not to install a new browser.

[srb]

The Pop-up settings could be configured to get the result that Bob is getting, at least with his [more] smileys button for sure.
 
On the Privacy tab:
 
1.  If Pop-up Blocker is On, and under Settings the Show Notification Bar is unchecked and the Blocking Level is set to High: Block all pop-ups (Ctrl+Alt to override), then no notification would be shown and
 
a.  If Ctrl key only is held down while clicking on it, the page would just reset to top of page (as is happening for Bob)
 
BUT
 
b.  If Ctrl+Alt keys are held down while clicking on it, the window (or tab, depending on the setting in Tabbed Browsing) should open.
 
Steve