I'm running Microsoft Windows 2000.  I have put a shortcut to a web
site (web document) on my desktop.  When I double click on the
shortcut, all works fine if my default browser is Internet Explorer. 
Howver, my preferred browser is Netscape.

When I set my default browser to be Netscape and double click my web
document shortcut, I get the following error message:

  " Cannot find the file 'http://google.com' (or one of its
components).    Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required
    libraries are available."

 After the error message is displayed, the web document comes up under
Netscape exactly as desired.  How can I get rid of the annoying error message
resulting from Netscape being my default browser?

Hello,

This problem stems from Microsoft's direct implementation of IE in
Windows; and how Windows opens up file types (read below for more
details on why). Lucky for us, Netscape is smart enough to get around
this problem (I am going to assume you are using Netscape 6.2; if
you're not, I recommend upgrading, 6.0 is too buggy and anything else
is out of date).

Go in to Netscape's Preferences (The Edit menu, then select
Preferences). Here, select the Advanced bullet to expand the menu. Now
select the System item. Under "Windows should use Netscape 6 to handle
these protocols", check mark at least the 'http:' and and 'https:'
protocols; and anything else you want.

This should do the trick.

If, for some reason it doesn't, you can also try changing the URL
extension properties (i.e the program that is run when an Internet
Shortcut file is clicked) manually. Open up any Explorer window (for
example, double click on My Computer). Go into Tools->Folder
Options->File Types. Look for the extension URL, click on edit/change.
In this menu click on the 'Open' Action, then click edit. Here,
replace "rundll32.exe shdocvw.dll,OpenURL %l" with something like
'"C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape 6\netscp6.exe" %l' (put the
proper path to Netscape there). I doubt this will work if the first
solution does not, so try that one first.

More on why:
The rundll32.exe launches programs based on their file types, such as
.txt, .mp3, or .avi. In our case it is .url; for some reason
associating .url with Netscape is not good enough, Windows still wants
to open it up with Internet Explorer. There must be a registry edit
that is made when the checkboxes are clicked in Netscape to fix this.

I hope this helps,
neoxenos-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by carswell_b58-ga on 28 May 2002 21:49 PDT

This solution did not work.  The problem seems rooted in the use of
shdocvw.dll as a means of opening URL's. Do you have any other
suggestions?

---

Clarification of Answer by neoxenos-ga on 29 May 2002 10:41 PDT

I apologize for giving a solution that did not work; I would never of
answered if I wasn?t sure it would. Which leaves me very puzzled. I
replicated your problem exactly, and fixed it using the method
explained.

Unfortunately, after extensive searching, I could find no other
solutions available. Every site that answered your or a similar
question used the same method I explained.

You are correct that shdocvw.dll is at fault here; it is the DLL that
IE uses to call other DLLs to gain ability to show the correct format
of content requested. However, shdocvw.dll is called by iexplore.exe,
which should never be called in the first place.

An Architectural Overview can be found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/browser/overview/overview.asp#Architectural_Overvi

The only suggestion I have left is to create a shortcut to Netscape,
and put the URL of the desired website after the command. For example,
the following would be put in the target line of the shortcut:
"C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape 6\netscp6.exe"
http://answers.google.com

I know that is not a solution, but I am simply stumped to find any
thing else that even resembles one. Again, I apologize.