Upgrading your Internet Explorer version to version 7 might fix your problem automatically - or you may have problems totally unrelated to Internet Explorer. First, before you update to IE7, go to the control panel, open internet options. open the programs tab. and make sure Internet Explorer is set as your default browser. If it is not, or this area is blank, use the arrow to find Internet Explorer and select it.

Another thing that comes to mind is you've installed a firewall. If you're using a firewall, particularly the firewalls that come with McAfee or Norton - or worse - if you're using Zone Alarm, you might be experiencing problems with Internet shortcuts because your firewall is blocking your Web access when you click an Internet shortcut. You didn't tell us what software you're using as far as a firewall goes, so we can only make guesses. We continue to get emails from folks every day who've installed a software firewall - and then find they cannot use their computer as they would like to. 

Which brings us to this point - when writing for assistance to a problem, the more information you can give about the programs you use and the more details you can give, the more likely it is that we can help you. We're sort of shooting in the dark here because all we know for sure is that you're using Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6. Apparently you've avoided service packs for Windows XP too. If this is the case you should seriously consider installing all service packs for Windows.

The same issues that prevent your Internet shortcuts from opening correctly are most likely the reason you cannot access Adobe Photoshop help. But since we don't know what version of that program you're using, we don't know if it is a version where some of the help files are Web-based or not. You'll know if the Internet shortcut problem and the Adobe Help problems are related when you solve the Internet shortcut problem. You could, also, re-install Adobe Photoshop. If you reinstall Photoshop and Help works, then you'll know your problem was missing or corrupted files in your Photoshop program's help section - or some other problem with Photoshop and not related to your Internet Explorer problems.

As for your last question, we tell our readers to never click links in email, generally meaning from someone they don't know or don't trust. If you subscribe to this newsletter, we sure hope you trust us enough to trust the links we provide. Again, this goes back to the basics of using the common sense that we all use in our everyday lives and applying it to things Internet-related. Sometimes very intelligent people seem to throw caution to the wind when they get on the Internet.