Can't Open .htm Docs w/o getting "Home Page"

[doormouse]

Though I don't know exactly what prompted this change to my system, all of a sudden, unexpectedly, whenever I try to access a .htm file from my desktop or from within Explorer.exe, I am taken directly to my Netscape "Home Page" instead. This is really getting annoying, having to access all of these documents by first opening the browser and then keying in the location sequence manually, or else viewing the doc by using an editor. (Is there a smiley with smoke pouring out of the head instead of question marks? This would be a good place to use one for me.) This problem seems so simple but it's driving me nuts and due to its simplicity I can't seem to find an answer on how to solve it... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Paul Komski]

Which application do you want to open your htm files with?
Does this also happen with html files? (Just change .htm to .html to try this out on one of the files).
Which version of Windows?

[doormouse]

Sorry for the lack of info. Running Win XP; Intel P4 @ 2.93 w1Gb RAM. I am simply trying to either open up a web page bookmarked to the desktop or open a .htm (or .html) file from within Explorer (File Mgr.). As to the desktop I created a shortcut to the site. Always used to open the browser and go right there when I double-clicked. Now it goes to the Home Page and sits there. Same for any .htm or .html doc. The browser opening the .htm or .html is Netscape 7.2 which I really do like and would prefer to keep unless there are any clear objections or convincing reasons that another browser (other than MSIE which is abhorrent) is better. Again, never had this problem before. If I can provide any further info to clarify I'd be happy to. Again, all help appreciated.

[Paul Komski]

I think this is a file association problem of some sort but with an AOL Netscape I not fully sure. I would suggest you first change the default browser to MSIE and start it up and close it down and reboot. Then change the default browser back to Netscape.

If that doesn't work try uninstalling and reinstalling Netscape.

Netscape 7.2 was the last AOL version based on Mozilla 1.7.2. and which was a suite of programs that included the Netscape Navigator browser and only used the gecko rendering engine (Netscape 8.0 also uses the MSIE based Trident engine). The latest Mozilla version of the suite is SeaMonkey (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/) which you might want to give a whirl.

[Sylvander]

Take a look in your registry and see if all looks ok or not.

In my registry an "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.htm" file is specified as being of the type = "FirefoxHTML".
So I scroll down to the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\command" key to look at the Default->Data setting as shown in the image below.

This specifies how an htm file should be opened [by which program, and what the program should do with the file].

These settings can be manipulated [less safely]within the registry, or [more safely] outside the registry at...
"Windows Explorer->Tools->Folder Options->File Types->Registered File Types->Extension[HTM]->Advanced->[select]Open->Edit".
This displays the setting you see in the registry at that key.
You can now "Browse" to the program you wish to use to open htm files [Firefox in my case].
My setting here reads: C:\PROGRA~1\MOZILL~1\FIREFOX.EXE -url "%1" [same as within regedit].
Notice the quotes around the %1. These are important.

Always make a backup of some kind [perhaps export the branch to a ged file] before you make any changes [so you can undo the changes if necessary].