IE7 Upgrade and "MSHTML.HLP" Fiasco

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Gyro1949

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Jun 25, 2006
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While I appreciate the many folks who swear by “Opera” or “Firefox,” I’m just going to hang with IE. Maybe I like it because I use Outlook Express for my main e-mail use. But it doesn’t matter. The question I have is for IE7, and that’s all I'd like to hear about. Plus, as a "lowly IE user," I don’t really need to be looked down upon by folks who feel they’re better than those of us who simply like what came with the OS.

I upgraded to IE7 last week. Since then, when I receive e-mails in OE with embedded images, and attempt to "Save Image" I now most often get a pop-up telling me that “MSHTML.HLP can’t be found. As a result, I can’t save the image.

When I looked to Microsoft for answers, what I found is pretty silly. “MSHTML.HLP does no exist.” It’s that simple.

Someone at MS did something in IE7 that did something to OE to make it look for that file. Rather than simply giving us a patch to do away with that silliness, they posted several links to the same message about the file not even existing.

I’m almost ready to uninstall IE7, and go back to IE6, but we all know that that will become unsupported in short order, so that’s sort of cutting off my nose to spite my face.

Has anyone got a better explanation, and maybe a FIX, for this particular silliness?

No insult to “Opera” or “Firefox” users meant. I just went through “Opera Hell” one time installing it, uninstalled it, and don’t wish to go that route again.

Thanks,
“Gyro1949”
 
Fat Tony,

I don't know how to post a screen shot, here. This format won't let me just CTRL/V to paste it in like I can in a WORD document.

When there's a picture, I can Right Click on it, and be offered a chance to “save picture as….” If I try to save the picture, a small “Windows Internet Explorer” window pops up, saying “! The system cannot find the file specified.” There’s an “OK” button, if pushed just closes that pop-up with no action taken to save the picture. It also has a “HELP” button. If I push it, a “Windows Help” pop-up opens, saying “? Cannot find the C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.hlp file. Do you want to try to find this file yourself?” There are also “Yes” and “No” buttons.

If I push the “YES” button, a “Save” window pops up to the syatem32 directory, and its “Open” field has mshtml.hlp highlighted. Of course, trying to open the file yields nothing since even Microsoft agrees it doesn’t exist.

If I push the “No” button, another “Windows Help” pop-up says: “! Cannot find the C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.hlp Help file. Check to see if the file exists on your disk. If it doesn’t, you need to reinstall it.”

From what I’m learning through various sources, the Microsoft folks know there’s a problem. They’ve farmed it out to someone outside of MS Support. A solution is hoped for by the end of the year. But if someone else found a fix, that’d be great.

Right now, I can forward the e-mail to myself, and open it in webmail to save the picture. But I don’t want to spend that time.

IE7 was supposed to be an UPGRADE. So far, it’s got that problem. I don’t like it.

Edited to add: I just noted that the save function seems to work if the picture is not contained in an .eml attachment, but is in the main body of an e-mail. Maybe that's why I'm not always having a problem with it. But it is happening with each .eml attached picture I just tried.

Thanks,
“Gyro1949”
 
i've searched my 2 xp systems, one with ie7 and one with ie6
neither of them have an mshtml.hlp file

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190250 talks about your issue but the reference links are dead unfortunately, it does point to a bug tho

i suggest you try creating a new user and testing it out
if you have other browsers and email apps installed, as a test make sure IE and outlook express are both your default web browser and email clients
 
Fat Tony,

Right now, I don’t have any other browsers or e-mail clients installed. Recently got a new Drive C:, and started XP Pro SP2 fresh. Used to have Netscape, (because that was my work client,) and Eudora Pro, but those are long gone, now.

I think the Yahoo MS Support Group, (can’t recall the exact name as I found it while Googling this problem,) had about the best response to the trouble.

It IS a problem. MS acknowledges it. But they’ve handed it off to someone else to fix…Maybe the place responsible for whatever’s causing it…and the hope is that it will be fixed by year’s end.

It seems to be something related to HTML, or whatever else is going on in OE and IE7. I’m more hardware guy than I am a software guy. (Maybe why I had such trouble installing and attempting to use “Opera,” and its plug-ins.)

I can get around the problem by either forwarding those e-mails to myself, or using my ISP’s web-mail to view, (without removing them from the server,) any e-mails that may have pics I want to save, and then go ahead and receive them as usual, (deleting them from the server,) in my POP3 OE application.

My Alaskan ISP’s web-mail client doesn’t allow me to embed pictures, so I am still using OE for my e-mail. I like it. It’s simple. And it’s been seamless with IE6, up until this. And my ISP won’t let me send through any other ISP but it, so I have to dial into it to send e-mails. Using my cell phone as we travel around the country for sending anything longer than a text message is a time consuming pain. I don’t wish to give up that e-mail account and ISP, so for a while, I’m stuck like this. I have various other web-mail accounts, but still like the way OE works for what I do.

I’m hoping MS gets rid of the problem. If they don’t, then I guess I’ll revert back to IE6 and consider MS’s e-mails about upgrading to IE7 just so much SPAM.

Thanks,
”Gyro1949”
 
I've found the same problem! Why I upgraded to IE7, I don't know...but the twist Ive found is that I can save embedded pictures in some emails, but from a certain emailer, I get the same message described above!

All I can figure is it's a security setting. I've played with those setting until I'm blue in the face (the Blue Man) but can't get any movement.

Finally, I had to snag the pictures I wanted using a grabber tool. I use firefox for browsing, but IE for some content that firefox has issues with...but IE is such a bitch! It screams security flags for every page I try to load. It acts like an ACLU lawyer on steroids!
 
I solved the problem. I dragged IE7 out the back door by it's kicking, screaming, whining dll's and tossed it into a snowbank.

Now, my Outlook Email saves embedded content correctly.

I still browse with Firefox, and recommend that you give it a try; I just use IE for....Outlook Express's cache?

Good riddance!
 
replying to the first poster... you said you didn't wanna switch cause you wanna keep using outlook express.... who said you can't?

I use firefox for browsing and outlook express for mail.

im actually gonnna change to thunderbird, but that's besides the point.
 
Rob,

I can see where someone could get confused. I just didn’t want to let that poster, (or anyone else,) know what I think of the software that bombed on me for no apparent reason. I’m just not a guy who likes to use experimental stuff, and then feel a need to be dazzled to the point that I post in some Internet chat room when it does something that I’ve found IE to do for me without question for so long.

But what I had said in my first post was, “No insult to ‘Opera’ or ‘Firefox’ users meant. I just went through ‘Opera Hell’ one time installing it, uninstalled it, and don’t wish to go that route again.”

I had spent a long time downloading all the Opera files, and thought it was going to install cleanly, (after all, people were hyping it to the hilt,) with all the downloaded plug-ins functioning…Much as IE does when it’s downloaded.

What I got was a mess. No plug-ins worked, and it seemed I needed to be a software engineer to understand what was wrong.

I just don’t want to do that, again. Nor try it with "Firefox."

I don’t use a MAC, either. I don’t fault anyone who opts to go that route, either.

Enjoy whatever browser you like. More power to ya. I just have more to my life than asking others about how some mongrel software is supposed to work, when it ended up “miss-firing” within a Microsoft environment.

Now I guess I’ll hear from people dedicated to groups that extol the virtues of the mongrel OS’es that are out there….

I know that this temporary OE glitch will be done away with sometime soon, and my MS auto-update will bring it to me without my having to continue to search high and low for someone to give me a permanent work-around. I’m willing to wait, and not throw the baby out with the bath water. IE does all I need it to do. I’m no “power user,” I don’t need to do “tricks,” and I like the heretofore-seamless interoperability Windows has always given me.

Sorry,
“Gyro1949”
 
Well, I do believe you are a little confused, if you are calling "Firefox" the mongrel browser.

Just check out the browser share here," on one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Footballs... a monster that has 75 million hits.

Firefox versions and Mozilla are respectably tearing up the market, remarkable in that it is mostly by word of mouth. You'll notice a lot of 'improvements' in IE7 are result of playing catch-up to Firefox.

Firefox is open source. Try that with Bill Gate's products!

 
Serr,

I was afraid of this.

Look. I have a son-in-law who is a software developer. He set up a web site with photos of my grand kids that allowed the family to enjoy the latest developments. While I was at work, (where we had to use Netscape,) I couldn’t pull up those photos. Turns out he had to change something in there to allow that non-MS browser to interface with the configuration he had used for the web site.

I can only imagine what he would have to do to get it to work with either “Opera,” or “Firefox.” I won’t put myself in a position to make him meet my demands. But I’ve since retired, and taken to using nothing but IE for my browsing.

As I’ve said. IE does all that I want it to do. It does it without asking questions, or popping up with obtuse error messages about something not being Kosher in whatever it was I attempted to open.

Fool me once…Shame on you. Fool me twice…Shame on me. I don’t wish to go through that old “Opera” fiasco, again. And I don’t care if many people are pleased with other browsers. Perhaps they prefer to do things with them that I don’t wish to do with IE. Whatever floats their boats.

The number of people hitting a website mean little in real life, actually. To me, it means little more than the number of votes so many low-life politicians manage to get from the many millions of people eligible to vote…long with those many dead voters.

As I’ve said. It doesn’t matter what browser one wishes to use, or what browser does what some folks want it to do. I am happy with IE. I didn’t need the “improvements” that MS put into IE7. “Tabs” means nothing to me. And any new “look & feel” was totally unnecessary, as far as I’m concerned. For all I know, they may have been attempting to “look like” “Opera,” or “Firefox.” I have no idea. (But "tabs" does sound awfully like "Netscape" to me.) If that’s the case, then shame on MS. They fell for the hype. They should have simply left well enough alone, and not screwed with my saving embedded photos with my OE. That is all I’ve wanted to do that is now in a temporary “problem” status, thanks to their diddling with a working browser.

They shouldn’t have changed it. But since they did, they should have foreseen the glitch it’s got while sending out “Beta” versions to the folks who simply can’t leave well enough alone.

But now that they’ve screwed the pooch, they know they need to fix it, and are working on it. And IE6 won’t be supported forever, so I will simply keep IE7.

Which means I don’t have to dump IE because OE has new problem. I like IE, and plan on staying with it.

If I ever come up with something IE won’t do, that I feel I must do, perhaps I’ll experiment and try a mongrel browser. But in the meantime, a few million mongrels will never outnumber the BILLIONS of IE users.

Oh…And, (unlike many,) I don’t hate Bill Gates for being rich from his work. I ENVY him. I wish I could come up with something that would get me that rich.

Even if IE or other MS stuff was “Open Source,” it wouldn’t matter to me. I’m a hardware guy, and never understood software. I don’t mind it if someone who develops a money-maker prefers to keep that money in his own pocket, rather than letting pilferers run off with it. (And, yeah...I hate those folks who steal artistic work -- by downloading music, etc.-- simply because they can.) I’m guessing Gates would hire someone who can offer improvements to his products. And he should crush those who would steal it from him.

And I would love to get that rich, even if it’d earn me a few jealous folks who prefer to hate people they can never become. No matter how much they’d love to be so rich as.

“Gyro1949”
 
I've replicated the problem on this computer... but I have no idea how to fix it. Simply installing Firefox isn't going to work, because I also have FireFox 2.0 installed on this computer and the problem still occurs. Perhaps if it's the default browser... I dunno.

I understand your trepidation concerning software you're not familiar with... but the only way to learn is to try. Sure, you'll fail sometimes... but hopefully each failure will teach you something and help you learn. I'm not afraid to dive in head-first because I know I can fix my own screw-ups. Yes, it is time-consuming, but so is waiting for a solution to this issue. Instead of waiting for months for a minor issue to be fixed, you could be waiting a matter of minutes.

You have to decide what's important to you. It seems that if you want a quick and easy solution, it's already been given to you. I fully realize it's not the solution you'd prefer, but right now it's the only one. You can either go back to IE 6 or try another browser. (Though I'm begining to wonder if this is a browser issue or an OE issue).

I have no idea about Opera, but I know FireFox is EXTREMELY easy to set up. Of course, I do both hardware and software... so I suppose what's easy for me may not necessarily be easy for someone else.
 
That's your boat, and it floats, it's well and good with me. I, too, am a 'hardware guy', but today one care barely separate the two. In my field of industrial electromechanics, it's not just relays and cam switches anymore! When I hit the field in the late '70's we could readily ascertain a mechanical fault, but progressively to date it's become much more blurred.

This particular problem is linked between Outlook Express and Internet Explorer. I remember the 'bad' days when OE would default to opening a link into IE, and I would immediately have to copy the link, shut down IE and post the thing into Mozilla (who was first on the block with stand-alone popup blockers, BTW). But with XP, finally Windows recognizes that IE isn't going to be the 'favorite son' of everone who uses Windows (lawsuits may have reinforced that line of thinking) and the link in OE now correctly opens in Firefox (which has a bug in 2.0, BTW, but that's another thread).

So when I upgraded to IE7 (for whatever reason) the current annoying cross-application bug surfaced. I'm graphics-intensive, and couldn't figure out why the bug was sender-selective. That drove me nuts! Why does one e-mailer have the 'privelege' of allowing his imbedded image to be saved, and one does not? The key to the bug is there. (I first thought some wag had found a way to protect the image from copying, given the Windows peeps have tended to go overboard on the copy-protection-download-loss-prevention thing...

But the real reason I love Firefox is the 'adblock' extension. Never again do I have to look at an ad of any type! Visit a site like Fox News or CNN and you are assailed with FLASH-driven nonsense. One click, and use the wild card, and that ad will never load again, on any site. Powerful stuff...and anathema to IE, given that net-driven advertising keeps the intertubes running.

I guess, to maintain the health of the intertubes, we should not promote the use of Firefox and Adblock verymuch...there I go, thinking like Gates again~! (I really never got over Commodore losing to those pesky IBM Clones anyways...)
 
Serr,

I hear ya. There is an ever-finer line between software and hardware. When I first experienced “plug & Play” with Windows 98, (I think it was,) I was amazed that the software could tell what was in the box. (Some of the time, anyway.)

I’ll be miffed when Windows XP is no longer supported. Just as I was when 95 and then 98 faded. I never played with ME or 2000, but at work was into NT, which never was friendly to the stuff I preferred to do. I was happy to retire and get away from that. Even though I personally upgraded my box to Windows XP Pro.

When I have pictures embedded, so far I just can’t save any of them from any of the folks who send them. It wouldn’t surprise me if some user out there is using a different e-mail client that maybe mixes the pictures without whatever OE is now sensitive about. I have been to sites that have protected not only pictures, but text from being copied. I have no problem with folks who want to keep their work proprietary. They are willing to risk non-recognition for some of their work. But they also get to avoid what is, after all, wholesale theft that seems to be the rule these days. As for the e-mail, I can work around things by forwarding the picture e-mails to myself, too. When it’s forwarded, I open it with my G-Mail account, which, (even though it’s opened in IE7,) doesn’t seem to mind letting me save the pictures.

MS knows about it. It’s something to do with HTML, or the other varieties of HTML that are used in these applications. They’re going to fix it. I’ll just wait.

But I just don’t wanna go another route and open what I previously found to be a can o’ worms for me, by using any non-MS browser.

My pop-up blocker works in IE. Worked in both IE6, and now in IE7. Banner ads don’t bug me. It’s the prices I pay for using someone’s work when I choose to browse their sites. But so far, I don’t go to places that have what are truly irritating banners.

I understand why some folks loathe Bill Gates. I wish those folks would grasp why I respect the man. And no matter who it is, once a company goes “global,” it’s going to become just another mega-concern that appears to be more out for the almighty dollar, than it is for individual user satisfaction. It’s just the way things go. I miss the days of yore, when I could use one purchased copy of Windows to load it on as many machines that are in my house. My wife’s laptop uses the Windows XP Home that came with it, and I can’t “legally” install my OEM version of Windows XP Pro to help us network more easily, here in our RV. Flash drives are what we choose to use, rather than plugging into a router. If I felt that was too much, I could simply purchase Pro for her laptop. But it’s not enough of a problem to go that route.

I hope to remember to come back here when MS gets the patch to fix this glitch, and update this thread.

Later,
“Gyro1949”
 
Zoron,

You didn’t elaborate about what else you may have done when installing “Firefox 2.0.”

The problem is that upgrading IE6 to IE7 also does a thing to OE. So if you want to undo the glitch, (regardless of your choice of browser,) I think you may have to uninstall IE7. And maybe even OE, and re-install IE6, which will also put OE back in.

I don’t want to mess up my address book, so I’m simply going to hang tight while the patch is created and distributed. It’ll happen.

And, yeah. I’m lazy. This is what works for me because the hassle of having to forward pictures is not as big to me as would be trying to get the hang of another browser.

Plus, my wife uses this machine for when she wants to print without using that Flash Drive. And she is too used to IE to change. Not to mention she just upgraded to IE7, now, as well…Maybe because I have.

Good luck in what you do.

“Gyro1949”
 
But that's just it... there's nothing to "get the hang of"... if you use IE you can use FireFox. The two are virtually identical. The only difference is the positioning of the buttons (Back, Forward, Stop, etc.). Functionaly, it's the same browser minus the ActiveX controls.

Not trying to dissuade you from using IE, because I use it myself. I haven't had any security issues. I know they exist, but I keep myself up to date and always have a decent firewall / antivirus / antispyware running.

In my attempts to find a workaround, I believe I have one for you. Right-click the embedded image as you normally would, but instead of choosing Save as..., choose Copy. Then open MS Paint, go to the Edit menu and select Paste. That should paste the image into Paint, and then you can save it. (You could probably use any photo program, I just tried it with Paint). This would be more time-efficient than sending the mail to your Gmail account and opening it there.
 
Zoron,

Touché! Paint works perfectly.

I tried copying pics to WORD. Didn’t work. Never thought to try Paint. Paint Shop Pro works, as well!

While I can forward them to myself and then use G-Mail to grab them, it means I have to use my cell phone to slowly dial into my ISP, which is what irks me about that workaround.

I may eventually migrate to “Firefox.” Just not now. And hinging upon whether MS patches this glitch.

We’ll see.

Thanks,
“Gyro1949”
 
It wouldn't have occured to me to try Word... I just thought that a photo program should work, and it did. Glad to have found a simpler workaround for you that actually works. It's still not ideal, but at least it works and it doesn't involve connecting to the internet.

Since MS is aware of the problem, I'm sure it will be fixed. I'll have to try the same thing in Vista to see if it exists there as well. (Outlook Express has been replaced by Windows Live Mail in Vista).
 
Zoron,

D’Oh!

Now that you mention it, I don’t know WHAT I was thinking when attempting to paste the images into WORD, aside from the fact that I usually have WORD open, and it will accept images. It just won’t SAVE them in a standard image format, and would only work if I mailed the entire document.

I use Paint Shop Pro a lot, and never even gave it a thought to paste it into that.

But for this, Paint is best because it opens even quicker than Paint Shop Pro, and I don’t need to massage these images before passing them on.

Thanks,
“Gyro1949”
 
How do I remove IE7 and reinstall IE6. I too am not able to save pictures when in the body of emails. It is just too annoying for me. PLEASE ADVISE as IE is not in my add/remove programs.
 
Goldens4Life,

I’m personally afraid to try to go that route. That’s why I was so pleased to get Zoron’s work-around. I’ve been able to Copy the pics and then save them in Paint. Then I can embed them in the proper places I want them and pass them on. That saves so much hassle of forwarding the e-mails to myself!

I’d do that for now, if I were you. And hang loose while MS or its contractors deal with the supposed fix due around the beginning of the new year.

One good reason is the fact that IE6 won’t be supported after a short period of time. So if problems develop, you’d be left hanging.

As an aside, your nickname makes me think you may be in charge of some Golden Retrievers. (If it’s even possible to “be in charge” of them.)

Thanks,
“Gyro1949”
 
go to c:\WINDOWS\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe, this will remove ie7, the ie7 folder within windows is hidden so make sure u're showing hidden files/folders in explorer
 
Hi Gyro...
I read thru all your posts on this subject and I understand what you were saying about Firefox, et al...I tried them and got similar results, and do not want to go that route again, either. I have also encountered the same problem you have with IE7...grrrr! I hope someone creates a patch for this soon as I have to do things differently than I have done in the past. I did find that if you "copy" the picture instead, that you would normally have right clicked on and "save as", you can paste it onto a page in your photo program (I use Micrografx) and that works ok. The only problem I've found with that, so far, is those sparkly pix that come in can't seem to be saved to retain the sparkles. So they are being put in another file till a fix shows up. Until then, this "copy" way serves well.
Best to you...
...Genie
<><
 
Genie,

I’m glad I can copy the things to Paint. (Or Paint Shop Pro, if I’ve already opened it.)

Since I also have the Paint Shop Pro Animation software, if there is any action in a photo, it’s most likely a .GIF, rather than a plain .JPG or .BMP. I’m not sure if saving it as one in Paint will make it work, (that is an option in Paint, though,) but if I were to save it in Paint Shop Pro’s Animation software as one, it’d still be animated.

I’m guessing that as long as you’ve copied it to a clipboard, if you save it with the proper extension, you should get the animation.

A fast way to test it is to save it as a .GIF, then open it with IE, to see the animation. Not all photo software can animate an image.

Give it a try if you have one handy. I’m curious.

And I’m also hoping to hear soon that the patch is available.

“Gyro1940”
 
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