I lost my ability to click on a web link

wrote in :

I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an extension and it
totally screwed up the browser. I removed the extension but the
browser continued to act weird. Rather than fight with it, I just
uninstalled the browser, cleared out any remnants of it from the
registry, removed all profile stuff, and rebooted.
Then I reinstalled it. The browser itself works fine again, but if I
click on a weblink to a HTM or HTML file, nothing happens.

For example, if I formerly clicked on any web-link in a newsgroup
page, it would load.
Example:
www.google.com

If I would click on this url, it would open.

OR

If I clicked on a bookmark, the page would open.

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

note - This is k-meleon version 1.5.4 (final version that runs on
win98).




Did you keep a copy of all the entries you cleaned out of the registry? If
so, paste the lot here, I might be able to pick out the one(s) that need to
go back.

If you search in registry for 'urlmon', you'll see various classid's that may
match stuff you deleted. If you destroyed the entries irrecoverably, your
best bet might be to install FireFox, then delete its files rather than
uninstall it, then install K-melon and set it to default browser. (This
assumes that FireFox is complete in its install of registry entries). As they
are both Mozilla based, this should be fairly clean, but I don't know if it
will work. You may have removed stuff that W98 expects IE v5.5 to put there.

Some registry entries are part of the core network stuff. When a browser is
set as default, it edits pointers in ways than can make it look like those
entries belong to it, and not to the core. As the browser expects those
entries to be there, it might not add them if they're not there, and can only
edit them if they are. It all depends on a coder's expectations of the host
system.

wrote in :

I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an extension and it
totally screwed up the browser. I removed the extension but the
browser continued to act weird. Rather than fight with it, I just
uninstalled the browser, cleared out any remnants of it from the
registry, removed all profile stuff, and rebooted.
Then I reinstalled it. The browser itself works fine again, but if I
click on a weblink to a HTM or HTML file, nothing happens.

For example, if I formerly clicked on any web-link in a newsgroup
page, it would load.
Example:
www.google.com

If I would click on this url, it would open.

OR

If I clicked on a bookmark, the page would open.

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

note - This is k-meleon version 1.5.4 (final version that runs on
win98).




Btw, do you use Ghost or Acronis to back up the install? If not, you REALLY
need to get into that, because there's NO other way to get fast, repeatable
conditions for testing or fixing stuff like this.

The number of times people say they don't need Ghost, or that it's 'too much
trouble' are beyond count, but fixing a computer without it is like
battlefield neurosurgery! Ghost is like a cloning machine. There is totally
no contest as to which way is better.

If nothing else, get all your backup registry files, NOW, save them, you
might yet get back a full working registry out of one if you haven't yet
rebooted five times since the borkage occured.

I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an extension and it
totally screwed up the browser. I removed the extension but the
browser continued to act weird. Rather than fight with it, I just
uninstalled the browser, cleared out any remnants of it from the
registry, removed all profile stuff, and rebooted.
Then I reinstalled it. The browser itself works fine again, but if I
click on a weblink to a HTM or HTML file, nothing happens.

For example, if I formerly clicked on any web-link in a newsgroup
page, it would load.
Example:
www.google.com

If I would click on this url, it would open.

OR

If I clicked on a bookmark, the page would open.

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

note - This is k-meleon version 1.5.4 (final version that runs on
win98).

Lostgallifreyan wrote in
:

wrote in
:

I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an
extension and it totally screwed up the browser. I

NICE!

snip

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

You get someone with a brain to explain how to use Opera, you
moron.

--
There's nothing here to attract existing fans of either bands.
Instead, all [Rhino's compilation] "Total" does is to reinforce
the idea that Joy Division/New Order was a hugely exciting
source of music between 1978 and 1990 and New Order has been a
pitiful shadow of their once-visionary selves ever since.
John Meagher, The Irish Independent

wrote in :

I dont know what was removed from the registry because I used a
program called "System Mechanic" to clean the registry. When I tried
to run the "Restore" function of that program, it gave an error
message. Needless to say, that POS program has been removed.


There is a tiny tool called RegClean, I think it's one of Microsoft's own,
maybe part of some 'powertoys' or developer's kit. It's 837,632 bytes. If you
can, get it, it always backs up in timestamped files, in actual REG format so
putting them back is as easy as it gets, if it cleaned overmuch.

I restored the registry from Dos, put back a version from 5 days ago.
Everything works fine again......


Good for you. Just be aware that if you'd missed the boat, you'd have been
relying on a Ghost image or some other way. Ghost images are nice because
they're so complete, but unlike the registry backups, you need to get in the
habit of making them at times.

You might also work up a batch script to save registries so you het more than
five shots. I never did that though, I lock mine down so it only changes if I
want ot to (I press ESC at the right moment to allow update). This trick
gives me as many shots as I want.

I'm kind of wondering if I need to reinstall K-meleon again? Although
it works fine, I wonder if the pointers to it are screwed up in the
registry. Although I did place it in the same named folder. Only the
name of the "profiles" folder changed.


I think you need advice from someone who knows K-meleon specifcs, but in
general you can now try to clean the registry again, as you can restore your
working one any number of times. If you use that RegClean tool, look at the
saved file in a text editor, you might see things that help.

------

By the way, just out of curiousity, how does a person restore the
registry in Win2000, XP, Vista, Win7......
Those OSs dont use the actual or real Dos, so I wonder how they do the
restore?


I don't know details for those OS's but at some point in the boot process the
registry is prepared from file. I bet the situation isn't that much different
from W98, it's just not accessible if we only know DOS..

Thanks for the help
(and thanks for NOT telling me to install Opera)


No problem. Although I do like it, once I found one that would work for me. I
tried many times too, for at least two years I turned away, annoyed because
it was a nonstarter. It was a portable install meant for USB memory that
convinced me. But I keep FireFox around in case I ever have to fall back.

As to your other message, No, I dont use Ghost. I just copy my whole
harddrive to a backup drive. I've restored from it several times, but
I have not done a backup in months. Since the only problem was in the
registry, and works well now, all is good, but I guess I need to do a
recent backup.


I did that originally. ATTRIB to save original attributes of all sysfiles to
a text file, then unset all attributes. Then XCOPY, then a batch to reset
attributes according to the saved text. It works, but I wanted more....

Why would I want to spend money on this Ghost software, when a simple
copy command works just fine? Software of this type generally just
makes money for the programmer, when all it really does is use the
commands already built into Windows. There seems to be quite a bit of
software like this.


When I got it, Ghose was cheap. v5.1. Later, with v2003, Norton released a
copy that was cheap and much newer. I based a whole Ghost Guide on this
pone... Symantec ARE a hungry firm, but Ghost originated with Binary Research
in New Zealand. (Who still make something similar called Sprite Backup for
PDA's running WIndows Mobile). That firm is brilliant, in the Einstein sense
of the word. Norton and Symantec have REALLY tried to make Ghost their own,
but it's rock solid, there wasn't much they could do to it that didn't break
it or bloat it, so they largely learned to leave well alone. It's worth
it, it really is.

It does things Windows can't do. It's a bit like Partition Magic in its
ability to specialise in low level disk accesses and guarantee data security
because of that. First thing I noticed when I tried the original v4 was the
speed! XCOPY works, but a run that took 35 minutes took 5 or so with Ghost.
No matter what I did to speed the DOS command copies, it never looked
attractive compared to Ghost. Maybe sometime you'll want a forensic standard
copy of every byte on a disk to recover data from, or need some other Ghost-
like speciality. It's GDISK replacement for FDISK is alone worth the price of
admission, the only disk setup tool I ever saw better than GDISK is built
into OpenBSD, and I don't think anything beats that one so it's a tough act
to follow.

Main problem with Ghost as a commercial thing, is sheer wanton BLOAT. More
than a CD full these days I think. In practise, four small files, totalling
less than 5 MB, is all we need. If you ever want to try, see if you can
locate thre following, all from same install set:
GHOST.EXE
GhostExp.exe (the Ghost Explorer, Windows tool...)
GDISK.EXE
Ghost Boot Wizard.exe (Not really vital, unless you want bootable CD's with
images. It makes ISO's you can burn to CD with other tools, I think).
If you have time, try at least the first three. They will make you rethink
Ghost, probably. It ought to be cheap to get an old copy somewhere, it's not
one of those things we need to chase upgrades for. Just don't go for anything
too old, v2003 should be fine.

wrote:
I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an extension and it
totally screwed up the browser. I removed the extension but the
browser continued to act weird. Rather than fight with it, I just
uninstalled the browser, cleared out any remnants of it from the
registry, removed all profile stuff, and rebooted.
Then I reinstalled it. The browser itself works fine again, but if I
click on a weblink to a HTM or HTML file, nothing happens.

For example, if I formerly clicked on any web-link in a newsgroup
page, it would load.
Example:
www.google.com

) If I would click on this url, it would open.

OR

If I clicked on a bookmark, the page would open.

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

note - This is k-meleon version 1.5.4 (final version that runs on
win98).

It has been a while since I had to mess with that problem (not to mention
with Win98) but IIRC you have to go to Control Panel, Folder Options, File
Types tab.

Once there, you need to find the Win98 equivalents of...
URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol
and
URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy
and
Internet Shortcut

For each, click on "Advanced" or whatever you need to click on to get to the
"actions" associated with that file type. You then need to change the
pointer for the "open" action to point to your new browser. There may be
other stuff - Use DDE, DDE Message, Application, DDE Application not
running, Topic - but initially I would try unticking "Use DDE" (DDE stands
for "Dynamic Data Exchange" . If things don't work, retick it and try using
the name of your new browser for "Application". If that doesn't work, I
have shot my wad. Just be sure to take a screen shot of what was in the
window originally so you can put things back as they were if necessary.

Sorry I can't be more precise but I no longer have Win98 installed and XP is
a bit different.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"dadiOH" wrote in :

Sorry I can't be more precise but I no longer have Win98 installed and
XP is a bit different.


That could work. Looks very similar in W98, though the options are available
from the menu of any Explorer window. So long as those network protocol
'types' are there at all, then changing them manually should work. But ONLY
if a registry cleaner didn't remove something else they all rely on. I think
they all depend on a common link with Urlmon.dll, for example.

On Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:18:26 -0500, Lostgallifreyan
wrote:

wrote in :

I just reinstalled the K-Meleon browser. I added an extension and it
totally screwed up the browser. I removed the extension but the
browser continued to act weird. Rather than fight with it, I just
uninstalled the browser, cleared out any remnants of it from the
registry, removed all profile stuff, and rebooted.
Then I reinstalled it. The browser itself works fine again, but if I
click on a weblink to a HTM or HTML file, nothing happens.

For example, if I formerly clicked on any web-link in a newsgroup
page, it would load.
Example:
www.google.com

If I would click on this url, it would open.

OR

If I clicked on a bookmark, the page would open.

Now, when I click on any of these, nothing happens.

(K-Meleon set as the default browser).

How do I fix this?

note - This is k-meleon version 1.5.4 (final version that runs on
win98).




Did you keep a copy of all the entries you cleaned out of the registry? If
so, paste the lot here, I might be able to pick out the one(s) that need to
go back.

If you search in registry for 'urlmon', you'll see various classid's that may
match stuff you deleted. If you destroyed the entries irrecoverably, your
best bet might be to install FireFox, then delete its files rather than
uninstall it, then install K-melon and set it to default browser. (This
assumes that FireFox is complete in its install of registry entries). As they
are both Mozilla based, this should be fairly clean, but I don't know if it
will work. You may have removed stuff that W98 expects IE v5.5 to put there.

Some registry entries are part of the core network stuff. When a browser is
set as default, it edits pointers in ways than can make it look like those
entries belong to it, and not to the core. As the browser expects those
entries to be there, it might not add them if they're not there, and can only
edit them if they are. It all depends on a coder's expectations of the host
system.

I already have Firefox installed. I set it to default browser and
then thatr one would not open from clicking on a link.

I dont know what was removed from the registry because I used a
program called "System Mechanic" to clean the registry. When I tried
to run the "Restore" function of that program, it gave an error
message. Needless to say, that POS program has been removed.

I restored the registry from Dos, put back a version from 5 days ago.
Everything works fine again......

I'm kind of wondering if I need to reinstall K-meleon again? Although
it works fine, I wonder if the pointers to it are screwed up in the
registry. Although I did place it in the same named folder. Only the
name of the "profiles" folder changed.

------

By the way, just out of curiousity, how does a person restore the
registry in Win2000, XP, Vista, Win7......
Those OSs dont use the actual or real Dos, so I wonder how they do the
restore?

Thanks for the help
(and thanks for NOT telling me to install Opera)

As to your other message, No, I dont use Ghost. I just copy my whole
harddrive to a backup drive. I've restored from it several times, but
I have not done a backup in months. Since the only problem was in the
registry, and works well now, all is good, but I guess I need to do a
recent backup.

Why would I want to spend money on this Ghost software, when a simple
copy command works just fine? Software of this type generally just
makes money for the programmer, when all it really does is use the
commands already built into Windows. There seems to be quite a bit of
software like this.

On Thu, 3 Nov 2011 15:27:22 -0500, "dadiOH"
wrote:

It has been a while since I had to mess with that problem (not to mention
with Win98) but IIRC you have to go to Control Panel, Folder Options, File
Types tab.

Once there, you need to find the Win98 equivalents of...
URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol
and
URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy
and
Internet Shortcut

For each, click on "Advanced" or whatever you need to click on to get to the
"actions" associated with that file type. You then need to change the
pointer for the "open" action to point to your new browser. There may be
other stuff - Use DDE, DDE Message, Application, DDE Application not
running, Topic - but initially I would try unticking "Use DDE" (DDE stands
for "Dynamic Data Exchange" . If things don't work, retick it and try using
the name of your new browser for "Application". If that doesn't work, I
have shot my wad. Just be sure to take a screen shot of what was in the
window originally so you can put things back as they were if necessary.

Sorry I can't be more precise but I no longer have Win98 installed and XP is
a bit different.


--

dadiOH

While I already fixed the problem by a registry restore, Thanks for
the help. I forgot how or where to get to those Association pointers.
I recall doing it in the past, often just removing them, and then
resetting the browser to "default" would solve the problem.

Thanks for the help, now I know how to get to those again....
I'll save this message so I know the next time......

On Thu, 3 Nov 2011 19:59:28 +0000 (UTC), thanatoid
wrote:

You get someone with a brain to explain how to use Opera, you
moron.

Read my Lips:

*** I HATE OPERA ***

Opera is the most repulsive piece of software ever written in all
history!

If you don understand that, then your brain must be made of this:
http://www.geocities.ws/knyghttime/****.jpg