Excel files opin in IE8 instead of Excel 2007

[lupes]

Here is the setup:
Clean install of Windows 7
Office 2007
IE8

Every time I click on an excel document in Sharepoint, or any hyperlink
which points to an Excel file, it opens in IE8 instead of Excel. I have
confirmed that the file extension defaults for the .xls and .xlsx point to
Excel, not IE8. I have also looked in the registry and there are no
"BrowserFlags" reg keys under the HLM/Classes branch. I even tried adding the
"9" reg-dword "BrowserFlags" to the "Excel.Sheet.8" registry sub-key but it
had no effect (this was from an older KB article which did not specify Win7
or IE8.

I am confused as the default behavior should be for office documents to open
in their native app, not IE.

Any ideas?

 

[lupes]

OK, I think I have narrowed it down to an add-on. If I boot with the "no
add-ons" version of IE8 it will open excel files in Excel instead of IE8.
However, I have tried disabling all add-ons in the regular explorer browser
and none seem to allow Excel to open the file.

Conversly I have opened the "no add-ins" IE and tried to enable all the
disabled add-ins and the excel file continues to open in Excel.

I am having no luck at pinpointing the offending add-in. Any ideas or help
would be greatly appreciated.