Clicking links keep asking me to choose between browsers

I have Windows 10 Pro. on my desktop and Windows 10 Home on my laptop. On both I have the default browser set to Internet Explorer. I'm using IE instead of Edge because I need the use of some add-ons that cannot work on Edge. My issue is that on both computers every time I click a link on a document or email I get the message in the screenshot below. When I click a link a pop up message ask "How do you want to open this". There is also a check box that says "always use this app". Even though I always check the box to always use IE, the message comes up every time. If I set Edge as the default browser I do not get that message. Anyone know of a solution for this? Thank you very much.

Ztruker said:

Try Control Panel, Default Programs, Set you default programs.
Click on Internet Explorer click on Set this program as default.

See what that does.

Go back to Default Programs and click on Associate a filetype or protocol with a program.
Scroll down to .htm, select it then click on Change program... button at top right.
Select Internet Explorer nd click OK.
Repeat for .html.

See what that does for you.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have mostly already done what you suggested several times but I tried again anyway. I think I may have jump the gun as far as getting the message in documents. It's actually only on links in Outlook '97 email. So apparently this is an Outlook issue. When I use the email program included with Windows 10 the links open in IE without prompting me to choose a browser. I guess I'll have to search for Outlook help. I'm guessing sooner or later others will experience this problem and it will be addressed. Thank again.

Hello JerseyBiker - I just wanted to say that you are not alone! I have exactly the same problem with Outlook 2010 and a friend has it with Outlook 2007 (note that Outlook 2010 is a supported product for Windows 10). I have tested it out on several different PCs, including a VM I specially built with a minimal installation to check this behaviour and they all do it. I have also installed Chrome and if I change the default browser to Edge or Chrome, the problem goes away. Put it back to IE and the prompt reappears. Very irritating! I have spent a few days scouring the internet to find that issues in the past that caused a similar behaviour (i.e. installing them removing Chrome or Firefox) and the fixes mentioned (i.e. Registry hacks and imports/exports to the Registry, clearing caches and a Microsoft Fixit) do not solve the problem! A fully-working Windows 8.1 machine did not have the problem - upgrade it to Windows 10 and the problem appears.

I have reported it to Microsoft via the Windows Feedback (I am a member of the Technical Insider Programme) as I suspect it is a 'feature' of Windows 10, but if anyone finds the fix and could post it here, I would be very grateful! Many thanks.

Thanks for your reply Ztruker. No, there is no setting in Outlook - it (is supposed to) just use(s) the default browser for your system. I've checked all the Registry keys for the Classes and htm/html against what they were in Windows 8.1 and they are identical (I even imported the keys from W8.1 to a W10 VM just to be sure). It's not an Office issue either - hyperlinks in Word work fine. So do Adobe Acrobat links in PDFs. So IMHO the only things left that are likely to have been changed by the W10 upgrade are the DLLs and/or file rights and ownerships. I must confess I am already a fan of W10 - to me, W10 is to W8 as W7 is to Vista! The Start button is now good enough for me to use without the Classic Shell (http://www.classicshell.net/) install that I used with W8/8.1. And the awful Metro screen has gone too I don't know what others think, but I suspect the underlying architecture of W10 is much the same as W8.1, which is why I've never heard of any issues with driver or program compatibility. Incidentally, just for others information, I too found that after upgrading, I could receive, but not send, emails from Outlook (even though the test send email in Accounts worked OK). That problem was fixed by running 'sfc /scannow' in a Command prompt running as Administrator - that was the only bug I have found.

No Rich - it's the Outlook hyperlink using Internet Explorer - Edge works fine (I don't think Edge has come of age yet - I think it's still work in progress, but I'm sure they'll get there!) I ran Dism too and that didn't solve the problem either, sadly.

Neville

Not quite! If I set the default to Edge, then all works well in everything, including Outlook. Same with Chrome (on a machine I installed Chrome on to test). However, if I set the default to Internet Explorer, you always get the prompt when you click on a hyperlink in an email in Outlook (and only Outlook, whether Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010) as per JerseyBiker's image at the top, even after ticking the 'Always use this app' box. I know it's a minor irritation, but an irritation nevertheless!

Neville