"Operation canceled due to restrictions"

[Tony UK]

Using Vista home Premium, SP1, I am using Outlook 2003 for emails, and
Windows Live Hotmail. Suddenly, when I get emails in Outlook containing
hyperlinks, clicking on any links, an error message appears saying "This
operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer.
Please contact your system adviser."

I have User Account Control switched off. Using Hotmail via Internet
Explorer does not have the same problem. Hyperlinks can be opened. Nor is
there any other similar problem on my other computer. The only workaround,
which is a little daft, is to forward the message with the hyperlink to an
email account on another computer, or to my Hotmail account on the same
computer.

I have tried all the Options offered in Outlook, and tried to find anything
available via Control Panel, but I can't find any reason for this.

I should be most obliged if someone could point me in the right direction.

 

[Chad Harris]

Using Vista home Premium, SP1, I am using Outlook 2003 for emails, and
Windows Live Hotmail. Suddenly, when I get emails in Outlook containing
hyperlinks, clicking on any links, an error message appears saying "This
operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this
computer.
Please contact your system adviser."

I have User Account Control switched off. Using Hotmail via Internet
Explorer does not have the same problem. Hyperlinks can be opened. Nor is
there any other similar problem on my other computer. The only workaround,
which is a little daft, is to forward the message with the hyperlink to an
email account on another computer, or to my Hotmail account on the same
computer.

I have tried all the Options offered in Outlook, and tried to find
anything
available via Control Panel, but I can't find any reason for this.

I should be most obliged if someone could point me in the right direction.

Hi Tony--

See:

You receive an error message when you click a hyperlink in Outlook
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310049

Good luck,

CH

 

[Tae Song]

Sounds like a policy edit. You could run SECPOL.MSC and see if there's
anything in there. Remember to write down any chances before you make them
, so you change them back if it doesn't do what you want.

 

[Tony UK]

Chad, I am very grateful to you for directing me to the right area. However,
the information supplied by Microsoft covers IE 6 and IE 7, not IE 8. I have
installed IE 8 on both of my machines. There has been no problem (so far!) on
one machine, but clearly there is this problem on the other machine. However,
I left a note for Microsoft to point this out to them. Maybe they will take
it up. In the meantime, I have printed out the article and I have the site
saved. I will let you know what happens.

 

[Tony UK]

I looked up SECPOL.MSC, which is meaningless to me: apparently it is not in
Vista Home. And even if it was, how would I use it. Thank you for the
information, but unless you can tell me how to use it I am lost.

 

[Tae Song]

Would you considered maybe using Windows Live Mail to replace Outlook?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=ba346005-45f6-4d14-a7dc-51e13d11a950

 

[Tony UK]

No I wouldn't, because I tried that program and it was a little lacking in
sophistication. Outlook gives me calendars, for instance. Besides, although I
speak of myself in this context, the computer where the trouble lies is used
by my wife, and I just back her up in her use of it. She also has a Hotmail
account, as I stated earlier. This is web based and the hyperlinks on emails
received through that account, or copied to that account from Outlook, are
not affected by the problem.

 

[Tony UK]

Okay, Chad, this is where the battle stands:

I used the link you kindly gave to me and printed off all the instructions.
I copied the registry key from my "good" computer on to a flash drive, and
transported the key to the desktop of the "bad" computer. I clicked on it as
M/soft instructed and got the message that the values of the key had been
added to the registry. The only trouble is that it has had absolutely no
effect whatsoever. I should add that both computers have IE 8 installed. I
tried uninstalling IE 8 on the bad computer, but this made no difference, and
no improvement, so I have reinstalled it.

Apart from consulting M/soft at a cost of $49.00 (+ tax!), is there anything
else one could do? Would uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook have any
effect? I would have to back up everything in Outlook on the bad compuuter
first. Or should I say, as one does on occasion, here is the time to use the
recovery disc and go back to ground zero? I would hate to go through the many
hours that this procedure would take, only to find that the same thing
happens again.

Any thoughts you might have on this would be much appreciated.

 

[Chad Harris]

Okay, Chad, this is where the battle stands:

I used the link you kindly gave to me and printed off all the
instructions.
I copied the registry key from my "good" computer on to a flash drive, and
transported the key to the desktop of the "bad" computer. I clicked on it
as
M/soft instructed and got the message that the values of the key had been
added to the registry. The only trouble is that it has had absolutely no
effect whatsoever. I should add that both computers have IE 8 installed. I
tried uninstalling IE 8 on the bad computer, but this made no difference,
and
no improvement, so I have reinstalled it.

Apart from consulting M/soft at a cost of $49.00 (+ tax!), is there
anything
else one could do? Would uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook have any
effect? I would have to back up everything in Outlook on the bad compuuter
first. Or should I say, as one does on occasion, here is the time to use
the
recovery disc and go back to ground zero? I would hate to go through the
many
hours that this procedure would take, only to find that the same thing
happens again.

Any thoughts you might have on this would be much appreciated.

Tony--

I hoped the MSKB would help, because believe me, in years of using them,
MSFT does not always update what OS or what IE or version of Office they
apply to and will work with, so its steps were worth a try.

I've read the thread to this point.

If I were you, I'd simply first try uninstalling Office 2003 and
reinstalling it. When you do us the WICU which is installed from here. It
does not uninstall, but it cleans up reg orphans and corrupt .dlls that
might impair an uninstall and subsequent reinstall.

Download and install WICU and use it prior to uninstalling Office 2003; then
reinstall Office 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Secondly, do you have an appropriate restore point to try with System
Restore to a point before this happened? To reach SR just type restore in
the search box above the Start Button.

If that brings no joy (it doesn't take that long), then try using Startup
Repair or the bootrec commands and see if those measures fix this:

Download Vista Repair Disk .iso and burn it to CD/DVD (for Sunne it's going
to be to a CD she borrows)
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

How to Use Startup Repair from the Vista DVD or the Repair Disk you make:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial142.html

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

2) If Startup Repair does not get your Vista back, then use the 3 bootrec
commands from the command prompt available on the Statup Repair Menu:

The menu I refer to is in this set of directions with a grey background.

http://vistahomepremium.windowsreinstall.com/repairstartup/repairstartup.htm

Those are:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Good luck,

CH

 

[Tony UK]

Chad, there is so much information in what you have said that I will take a
day or so to download all necessary material, including the creation of the
Vista disc. When I understand a little better what you are saying then I will
proceed. Perhaps the System Restore idea is something good to try very soon,
because as the S/R retore points add up, the old ones drop off the edge.
Also, some heavy Windows material has come in during the last week. I will be
trying to go back one week and see what happens. I have to disable Norton
Internet Security to do this, because it blocks S/R. But first I will use
WICU and the uninstall and reinstall of Outlook. I will report back in due
course.

I am impressed with your knowledge. For me this is a steep learning curve.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Tony

IE8 installed by any chance ?? If IE8 is installed then this is a known issue that
affects Outlook,OE,WM and WLM when trying to open a hyperlink inside the body of a
message. There is no fix from MS yet. Best you can do is to copy\paste the link into
the browser and open it from there.

 

[Chad Harris]

Chad, there is so much information in what you have said that I will take
a
day or so to download all necessary material, including the creation of
the
Vista disc. When I understand a little better what you are saying then I
will
proceed. Perhaps the System Restore idea is something good to try very
soon,
because as the S/R retore points add up, the old ones drop off the edge.
Also, some heavy Windows material has come in during the last week. I will
be
trying to go back one week and see what happens. I have to disable Norton
Internet Security to do this, because it blocks S/R. But first I will use
WICU and the uninstall and reinstall of Outlook. I will report back in due
course.

I am impressed with your knowledge. For me this is a steep learning curve.

Tony--

With all respect due, it takes only a few minutes to download and run the
WICU. It takes a few minutes to burn the .iso for Startup Repair if you
don't own a Vista DVD. System Restore takes a few minutes if you had the
appropriate restore point. Startup Repair and running the bootrec commands
can be done in about 10-15 minutes max, and sometimes faster.

I have to say though, in my experience in correcting Office glitches like
this one, if the MSKB won't work then I'd be quick to uninstall and
reinstall your Office 2003 as the next step unless you happened to have a
restore point to a time when you knew this wasn't happening with your links
in Outlook.

As to IE8, it is true that deep under the hood, IE does have some
connections with Outlook, although most people on newsgroups are conditioned
to think it has *none* but they aren't prolific. IE's main connections were
with Outlook Express when and where it was being used.

Good luck,

CH

 

[Chad Harris]

Tony

IE8 installed by any chance ?? If IE8 is installed then this is a known
issue that affects Outlook,OE,WM and WLM when trying to open a hyperlink
inside the body of a message. There is no fix from MS yet. Best you can do
is to copy\paste the link into the browser and open it from there.

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

Peter--

It may be a known issue, but I haven't seen it happen using IE8 on Vista
since it was available, or in any Win 7 build which has IE8 so I don't know
what the frequency is.

I haven't seen it in Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 with IE8 on
the box. That sure doesn’t mean of course that it's not happening to a
significant number of people, and it well may be.

CH

 

[Tony UK]

Peter

Thank you for your response. I am writing this on another laptop that has
IE8 installed, and there is no problem on this. Also, I uninstalled IE8 on
the "bad" laptop, without any improvement. M/soft's article on the subject
deals with the same error in IE6 and IE7. Lord, you would think they would
have got the message by now to cure the problem. At home, we were thinking
about my wife forwarding the problem messages to herself on her hotmail
address. This works, but it's only a long-winded workaround. Also, I am not
certain how one would copy and paste links that easily. I have just
experimented, while writing this, copying
"microsoft.public.windows.vista.general" as it appears in a blue link format
on this very newsgroup site. I popped it on to Google's URL pane, and it gave
me a hard time. In fact here is what Google responded (and this is a copy
too!):

"Oops! This link appears to be broken."

As I had to get up at 5 am this morning to call the Nordic Region
extensively on business (while I am based in Florida) I haven't had time yet
to use all the ideas presented to me by Chad.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Chad

Was your IE8 install a brand new clean install or an upgrade from IE6 to IE7 then to
IE8 or was it IE7 to IE8 or a stand alone or from a Beta removal to RC to Gold ??
The OP's issue is a known issue Chad. Go to the any OL,IE newsgroup

 

[Tony UK]

Chad

Believe me I do understand that you are giving me great advice, but it takes
me a little time to understand it, that's all. As for the restore points, I
checked yesterday as soon as I read your post. So many Windows Updates,
installations and reinstallations have taken place that I have no restore
points before May 31, and the problem existed before that. So I will be doing
the WICU thing then uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook. I'll keep you
posted.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Peter

Thank you for your response. I am writing this on another laptop that has
IE8 installed, and there is no problem on this. Also, I uninstalled IE8 on
the "bad" laptop, without any improvement. M/soft's article on the subject
deals with the same error in IE6 and IE7. Lord, you would think they would
have got the message by now to cure the problem. At home, we were thinking
about my wife forwarding the problem messages to herself on her hotmail
address. This works, but it's only a long-winded workaround. Also, I am not
certain how one would copy and paste links that easily. I have just
experimented, while writing this, copying
"microsoft.public.windows.vista.general" as it appears in a blue link format
on this very newsgroup site. I popped it on to Google's URL pane, and it gave
me a hard time. In fact here is what Google responded (and this is a copy
too!):

"Oops! This link appears to be broken."

The link is indeed broken as you typed it. Try this:
news://microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

On my computer the short one is broken and the long one opens Windows Mail
and offers to set me up, which I chose not to do