Windows Help System Failure

When I go to any Help system I can get the "Topics" list up on the left panel. When I click a topic I get the following message in the right panel:

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Action canceled
Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable.

Please try the following:

Click the Refresh button, or try again later.

If you have visited this page previously and you want to view what has been stored on your computer, click File, and then click Work Offline.

For information about offline browsing with Internet Explorer, click the Help menu, and then click Contents and Index.

Internet Explorer
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My internet explorer works fine in all other instances.

After many hours of research it appears as though Windows Security Update KB896358 has been known to cause this behavior, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;896358.

I went to Control Panel to remove that update. After removing Security Update KB896358 the behavior had not changed.

I am running Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2. I am looking for someone who can point me in the right direction. I am by no means a hardcore geek just an average computer owner trying to get things to work right.

System Info Dump:

 

Rename and Replace HOSTS file:

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Find this file: C:\Windows\system32\Drivers\ETC\HOSTS file

3. Rename the file(s) HOSTS to HOSTS.OLD. (a fresh new HOSTS file will be created when you restart Windows). Later you can delete the HOSTS.OLD

4. Restart your computer.

Steve

 

Thanks, Steve. I did as you suggested and it did not seem to make any difference.

 

Just to make sure, are you talking about XP's Help and Support on the start menu?

Steve

 

No, I am talking about any help system, i.e. Microsoft Streets, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, etc.. Opening any compiled HTML, i.e. chm file , help file will yield the behavior.

 

This may or may not work:

Open explorer (windows + E), or open "my computer".

Click Tools, options (or folder options), file types.

Navigate down to .chm.

Select .chm, press the advanced button. Select open, then press the edit button.

Make sure that the action is ----> "c:\windows\hh.exe" %1

Make sure you have the "'s in there also. and a single space after the later " (quotation mark).

 

Looked at that setting and it was already correct. Its not that the chm does not open it is that the left topics pane works fine but clicking on a topic in the left pane causes nothing to appear in the right pane.

 

This could be due to a recent MS security update. See if the links below help. The first link kind of explains the issues and the second link is one I thought you might need.


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896358

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892675/

Steve

 

Thanks Steve I have looked at both of those. The only one that makes sense is "Example 2: Use the MaxAllowedZone entry to enable a security zone" The problem is I do not understand what the entry in the registry should look like. Is HHRestrictions a subdirectory off 1.x and MaxAllowedZone is a Dword entry with a value of 0 or 1 depending on my preference?

 

I'm thinking you are supposed to follow these instructions to add it to the registry.

Paste the following text in a text editor such as Notepad. Then, save the file by using the .reg file name extension. This .reg file lets all content in the Intranet zone host the HTML Help ActiveX control.

Do you know how to do that? Copy and paste the items in the quote box into Notepad. Click File and then Save As. Change the Save as Type to All Files. Name the file fixme.reg and then click save. (make sure you save it somewhere you can find it. Saving it to your Desktop may make that easy.) Then double-click on the fixme.reg file on your desktop (or locate it with Windows Explorer and double click on it if not saved to the Desktop) and when it prompts to Add in to the registry, say yes.

Then try the Help function.

Steve

 

I did as suggested and created the registry entry. The help system still does not work. By the way I have attached a gif showing what I see when I open Internet Explorer help.

 

I am not sure where to go now. Usually renaming the host(s) file will solve the "action canceled" error. The chm thing has me stumped. Just a few things you might try.

1. Temporarily disable your anti-virus, firewall and any 3rd party ad-blocking software you have installed, see if that helps.

2. Download, update and run Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 here, http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ad-Aware_SE_Personal_d506.html

That is all I can come up with for now.

Steve

 

If the above does not work.

Try:

Click START, then RUN, then type in the following line by line and pressing enter after each one.

regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 itss
regsvr32 jscript
regsvr32 /i shdocvw
regsvr32 /i mshtml


Reboot.

Then try opening a .chm file.

 

Some added info that may help:

http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_diags.htm

Also, try downloading, unziping and running: http://helpware.net/downloads/MJsDiag.zip

 

edit: weird double post.

 

Also, Matacumbie came up with this fix:

Click START, then RUN, then type in:
regsvr32 dmocx.dll (press enter).

 

Thanks to all it turns out it was one of these commands that did the trick:

regsvr32 hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 itss
regsvr32 jscript
regsvr32 /i shdocvw
regsvr32 /i mshtml

I would never have gotten this fixed without your help. Thanks again!

 

That's interesting, never seen that particular problem.

Glad theefool thought of re-registering those .dll's...... and it worked.

Steve

 

I'm glad it worked out for you!

Tell your friends about this place. We are all happy to help out!