Vista Help is Broke

[Kevin K4VD]

I tried opening Vista's help. It worked yesterday but not working today.
Only change, I installed Winamp and did a reboot afterwards.

I get a dialog box:

Windows Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer cannot download / from help.
Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The requested
site is either
unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.

Any ideas?

Kevin

 

[Michael Solomon]

I tried opening Vista's help. It worked yesterday but not working
today. Only change, I installed Winamp and did a reboot afterwards.

I get a dialog box:

Windows Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer cannot download / from help.
Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
requested site is either
unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.

Any ideas?

Kevin

Since it only started today, try using System Restore to take you back to a
time prior to when this began. If you can't find an early enough restore
point for today, try the latest restore point from yesterday.

 

[dean-dean]

Try the fix offered at this site:

Fix Windows Vista Help and Support
http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/kmkenney/archive/2006/11/25/fix-windows-vista-help-and-support.aspx

It re-associates the .xml file type to its default settings. A recent
installation of a program may have "stolen" the .xml association.

 

[Kevin K4VD]

Since it only started today, try using System Restore to take you back to
a time prior to when this began. If you can't find an early enough
restore point for today, try the latest restore point from yesterday.

Thanks Michael:

Unfortunately that didn't seem to do the trick. I went back three days (the
system is 4 days old).

Strangely, if I open Help from a Vista program like IE, Mail or Defender, it
opens just fine. It is the same Windows Help and Support that I can't open
from the start menu or by pressing F1 when no windows are active. I've
confirmed this by doing some previous searches and see that the links are
highlighted (as visited). So, the Help files are there, I just can't get to
them via the start menu nor F1.

Kev

 

[Kevin K4VD]

Try the fix offered at this site:

Fix Windows Vista Help and Support
http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/kmkenney/archive/2006/11/25/fix-windows-vista-help-and-support.aspx

It re-associates the .xml file type to its default settings. A recent
installation of a program may have "stolen" the .xml association.

Thanks! Worked perfectly. Your note says the .xml file may have been stolen
so I assume there will be some program I recently installed that will act
strangely (not necessarily it's help file?). I'll keep an eye out for it and
troubleshoot from there. Things are looking great now.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Michael Solomon]

Thanks Michael:

Unfortunately that didn't seem to do the trick. I went back three
days (the system is 4 days old).

Strangely, if I open Help from a Vista program like IE, Mail or
Defender, it opens just fine. It is the same Windows Help and Support
that I can't open from the start menu or by pressing F1 when no
windows are active. I've confirmed this by doing some previous
searches and see that the links are highlighted (as visited). So, the
Help files are there, I just can't get to them via the start menu nor
F1.
Kev

Sorry it diden't work for you but I see you got it fixed and I've made note
of "Dean-dean's" post as well for future reference.

 

[dean-dean]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. More often then not, it's a
programmer's conceit. The program that re-associated the .xml file type to
itself will probably still work. For instance, although .txt files, by
default, open with Notepad, should you click on one, they can also be opened
by other word processors, such as WordPad or Microsoft Word, via Send To,
File>Open, etc. This issue has come up with some Adobe products:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=kb400789

I'm glad to hear things are working.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Dreamweaver installed, by chance? If so, see the following TechNote from Adobe:

Vista help system stops working when Dreamweaver is the default XML editor:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=kb400789

See also:

Error "Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site" when using Help and Support in Windows Vista:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/171/1/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I tried opening Vista's help. It worked yesterday but not working today.
Only change, I installed Winamp and did a reboot afterwards.

I get a dialog box:

Windows Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer cannot download / from help.
Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The requested
site is either
unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.

Any ideas?

Kevin

 

[Kevin K4VD]

Dreamweaver installed, by chance? If so, see the following TechNote from
Adobe:

Vista help system stops working when Dreamweaver is the default XML editor:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=kb400789

See also:

Error "Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site" when using
Help and Support in Windows Vista:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/171/1/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Yes, I installed Dreamweaver 8 a couple of days ago and remember setting it
up to be the default xml editor.

Great group... quick fix and solid explanation. Quite unexpected.

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

You're welcome Kevin.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com



Dreamweaver installed, by chance? If so, see the following TechNote from
Adobe:

Vista help system stops working when Dreamweaver is the default XML editor:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=kb400789

See also:

Error "Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site" when using
Help and Support in Windows Vista:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/171/1/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Yes, I installed Dreamweaver 8 a couple of days ago and remember setting it
up to be the default xml editor.

Great group... quick fix and solid explanation. Quite unexpected.

Thanks!
Kevin