General failure message

[Barrie]

Whenever I click on a link to the Internet in Outlook 2007 I get an error
message that says:

General failure. The URL was
"xyz". The system cannot find the file specified.

Having shown that, it then goes on to show the correct URL!

This does not happen with links in other software. Mozilla Firefox is my
default browser.

I am using Vista Home Premium and Firefox.

 

[Mary]

This is normal for Firefox. If you have Firefox already open it won't do this.

 

[Barrie]

I am not sure if I should say "Thank you" or not, Mary. Your message is
such a downer. Is there any way to correct this other than maintaining
Firefox open?

 

[Mary]

Well, I've been looking for one but haven't found it yet. I just close the
error and the page comes up. The same thing happens when I click on desktop
shortcuts when Firefox is not open. I did come across something today. I
looked at Tools, Options in Firefox, and selected 'Check to see if Firefox is
the default browser' (it is selected in Vista's default programs--or so I
thought) and it said it wasn't! So maybe we should select "always check for
default" on that page and select it there as the default. Firefox has forums
that you might search for another answer. Firefox always opens 2 pages--the
link and your home page. I think that's annoying, too.

 

[Mary]

After more research, I found that file association for url's was set to
Internet Explorer even though Firefox is my browser. To correct it, I opened
Default Programs from the vista start box, selected Associate a file....etc,
scrolled to url and changed it to Firefox and now it works. Thanks for
inspiring me to solve this glitch!

 

[Mary]

One more thing--Windows update needs IE to work or you'll get an error.
Download the Firefox Agent Switcher addon that emulates IE for other sites
that require it.

 

[Barrie]

I even have that switcher downloaded.
We do not seem to have put our finger on the solution but I can say that I
was previously using Firefox without this happening, so I do not agree that
it is to be expected if one uses Firefox as the default browser.

 

[Jon]

This appears to be a Firefox bug, and I have found a solution.

"Firefox 0.9.x for Windows incorrectly registers itself as the default handler for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and GOPHER transactions, causing it to launch two browser windows or one window and an error. This has been reported as bug 246078 and is also being discussed in a mozillaZine thread. This .REG file should fix this problem on a given installation after you have told Firefox to make itself the default browser."

Download the registry fix at http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/firefox_bug_246078.asp

 

[Barrie]

Thank you, Jon. I see that this is compatible with XP and all stops before
that. As I am using Vista, I do not think I will try it. Or perhaps I will
do so after making a registry backup.