Max Spyridakis Wrote

From: M. Spyridakis <mspork@msn.com>
Subject: Re: Internet Shortcuts need association to launch
Date: December 16, 1998 7:54 AM

Harry,

This will probably work for you... It is a general "Quick Fix" that I seem to have posted a few times today... In your case, the symptoms match previous complaints that reported success with this.

The command below will re register a critical DLL file that controls a lot of file associations in the registry for graphics, URL and HTML behavior. This also adjusts web page thumbnail views.

Standard warning here.
If you have customized the registry or installed a program (like Netscape or an image viewer) after installing IE4, that program may have changed some IE4 file associations - the command below may reset those file associations back to "IE4 standards"-- (I know there is a lot of 'maybe' in that warning but keep it in the back of your mind - in case you see changes you will at least know what 'may' have caused it... ) - If you (re) install certain software it can steal file associations back again from IE4 - (and create a circular/frustrating game of "who's got the file")

Click Start button, click Run, type (or paste) the following command in the Open box (Note: the spaces before and after /i are important here)
Regsvr32.exe /i shdocvw.dll - and then press ENTER -- wait a few seconds (maybe more like 60 seconds depending on your system). You should see a dialog box that says "Registerserver and dll install in shdocvw succeeded". Press OK then reboot the system.

For a surgical approach -- check/reset individual file types

Apparently, there are 5 file types to check as noted in these two KB articles... (Don't worry too much about the titles or symptoms just use it as a guide to check the file types.)

This one I guess you've seen... Unable to View Internet Shortcuts http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q175/3/06.asp

BTW I believe that is a lower case "L" not a capital I in that one -- (I could be wrong but I doubt it)

***
Internet Shortcuts in Outlook Express Do Not Start Web Browser
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q177/0/54.asp

(Note: In addition to the KB article --
All these command lines end with -nohome and use DDE on my system)

Jerry (and all),

Thanks for the kind words and support...  If you all have other things
to add to the "miracle cure list" I think we would all benefit -- I
think I may have inspired Ron but he really did most of the testing --
(we actually started out arguing over whether there was a 'bug' or a
'feature' in the SP1 update as I recall)

I wouldn't expect SFC.exe to ever find the kind of problems listed in
Ron's post since these are usually "registry gone missing" type
problems.

Folks will almost certainly have some version of the shdoc___  family
(I bet you cannot get a clean boot without it) so SFC will say "yup
it's there" and move on.  Regserv32 is used by most install/uninstall
programs to do just what Ron proposes register controls & Dlls in the
registry so it should also always be present.

When registry values aren't in place and I wouldn't expect even
Regscan, RegClean or any like programs to find those kind of errors
because they may be "free standing" errors (not linked to other
registry bits /bytes) and so they won't raise a flag...

AFAIK, there is one disadvantage to using this command line --- It
resets the system to the IE4 standards -- folks who use netscape, an
image viewer or who are registry customization freaks may find changes
reset back to the "MICROSOFT WAY".

Regards to all, enjoy the weekend,
Max
MSPork@Msn.com