Email address links will not open Windows Mail

Philp47

Member
Now here's a tricky one!
I have Vista Home Premium 32bit on my 6 year old i-7 computer.
One thing it will not do now is open email addresses that are embedded in web pages etc etc.
You click on that email address and it will not open Windows Mail showing an email ready to fill in the remaining details.
I think it must have worked originally but not any more for maybe a couple of years.
I have searched the net for a solution and have rearranged the search words to get a result but to no avail!
I did find a Windows page of solutions for all sorts of Windows versions but not Vista! Aaarrrggghhh!
Can anyone please help?
Phil.
 

My Computer

Try another browser and be sure you are using the most up to date version of windows mail
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Richard,
Thanks for that. I have version 6.0.6000.16386 of Windows Mail but I had no luck finding which the latest version is.
1. I opened Firefox and TI Computers and clicked on the Email: [email protected] near the top of the page and it sent me a window asking if I wanted to go to Google search page and I said yes and it did. Didn't open Windows Mail though!

2. Internet Explorer. When I clicked on the TI Computers email address it went straight to the Google Search page!

So both were strange failures but at least it is going somewhere now even though it is the wrong place.
(It won't go anywhere on the above email address in this post though)

Prior to that I found a Microsoft page that showed me how to set Windows Mail as my default Mail system so did that and applied it.

Any ideas?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Doing my trials above I had left my default browser as Internet Explorer so when I opened the email link to this page it was in IE and then saw your reply I also noticed there was no way of replying to your post! So I had to reset the default browser to Google Chrome to get this reply section to appear. This is why I no longer use either Internet Explorer or Firefox because sometimes on these forum websites they just malfunction.

Anyway, I have all my emails in Windows Mail so will be reluctant to use Windows Live Mail at this point.
Also, at some point I have downloaded Windows Live Mail to my computer because it is there in All Programs.
I should also say that your first response referred to Windows Mail and not Windows Live Mail which you are now suggesting I use.
And I have no idea how to create a restore point.
I think I already have Vista Service Pack 2.
 

My Computer

If you make a system restore properly, you will be able to go back before you made any changes
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html
Windows Mail is the earlier version of Windows Live Mail. I should have said live mail
I do not know for sure but I think that your problem might be that you are using software that is just too old.
I do think that if you update your browsers and live mail to the most current, it will work.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Look in Control Panel > Default Programs. I was going to tell you what mine said, but Default Programs will not open on my computer any longer. Someone else who uses Windows Mail should be able to tell you what should be listed as the default.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Home Premium SP2, 32-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Retrofitted Refurbished Gateway
    CPU
    AMD
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A78-EM
    Memory
    4 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 22-in Flat Screen Monitor
    Keyboard
    Logitech K350 Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech M705 Wireless Mouse
As we get to know more about your problem, I discover that your computer is not working properly in many ways.
Tell us everything that is wrong with the computer, so we can help you in the best way we can.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
RichC, it sounds like you are describing my computer, but this is not my thread or my issue. I was attempting to help Philp47. Were you asking me? Because my problems don't all have to do with Mail. They are with Kaspersky, which they've identified as a bug, Word, which is a problem many other people are having and MS won't fix, and things I've found in Vista that are unusual and nobody knows why they are there or what they do. I believe I've posted my problems in the relevant groups.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Home Premium SP2, 32-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Retrofitted Refurbished Gateway
    CPU
    AMD
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A78-EM
    Memory
    4 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 22-in Flat Screen Monitor
    Keyboard
    Logitech K350 Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech M705 Wireless Mouse
LOL of course you are right
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Now that I've got my problem squared away, I'm in a better position to offer helpful advice.

First, a restore point would work if you still had one from a couple of years ago. However, you'd lose every installation you had made since then. I think if this has been a problem for a couple of years that a system restore would be less than helpful right now. However, you should look into System Restore and make sure you have it set up to roll back any changes moving forward. Click START > Control Panel > System and click System Protection under the Tasks heading. If there is a checkmark next to the C: drive, then System Restore is on and you are creating restore points. If there are no checkmarks, then this is a good time to put one there. To see your restore points, click System Restore, then Next. You may have to click another link to see more than what is shown, if there are any.

Second, I believe this problem of yours may have started years ago with an infection by some kind of malware. This is a good time to scan your entire system for malware, badware, foistware, scamware, adware, virii, hack, etc. Use both an antivirus and an anti-malware scanner. I do recommend Malwarebytes. I do not recommend McAfee or Norton. I use and personally recommend Kaspersky Internet Security. It does both and does it well, but it isn't free. However, deals can be found for multiple devices and multiple years.

Third, you can reset the MAILTO: link defaults. I got this from MailTo links do not open Outlook - MSOutlook.info and edited it for your question:

Method 1

Control Panel-> Default Programs-> Set your default programs-> select Windows Mail (or whatever email program you wish to use) -> Either use “Set this program as default” to assign Windows Mail all the defaults it can have or use “Choose defaults for this program” to manually select the MAILTO protocol.

Method 2

Control Panel-> Default Programs-> Associate a file type or protocol with a program-> scroll down to the protocol list (protocols are past all the extensions)-> select MAILTO-> click the Change program… button in the top right corner to set it to Windows Mail (or whatever email program you wish to use).


I hope this helps.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Home Premium SP2, 32-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Retrofitted Refurbished Gateway
    CPU
    AMD
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A78-EM
    Memory
    4 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 22-in Flat Screen Monitor
    Keyboard
    Logitech K350 Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech M705 Wireless Mouse
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