Well it's very nice to say don't use IE, or that IE is a bad thing. I used XP system restore and went back a day, uninstalling Norton and everything is fine now and browser and links work again. It's a Norton thing and there is no link, config etc. that explains the behaviour or how to fix it. Thanks for the thoughts and input. This is the second time I have had Norton screw up my system and not give me benifights I thought it would, live and learn.