Quote Originally Posted by thenonsequitur
It looks like your file association parameters got corrupted somehow. I've never seen this happen, but windows is buggy, so I it's certainly possible. If you're using Windows XP, here's how to fix it:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to the "Tools" menu and select "Folder Options...".
3. Click on the "File Types" tab. The types are sorted in alphabetical order by extension name.
4. Scroll down and click on extension "URL". This is the extension for internet shortcuts.
5. Click "Advanced" to edit actions.
6. From your problem description, it looks like "open" is gone for some reason. To add it back in click "New...".
7. Type in the action name "open" (all lowercase) and the application "rundll32.exe ieframe.dll,OpenURL %l".
8. Check the "Use DDE" option and some more text fields should appear.
9. In Application put "ieframe" and in Topic put "System". Leave DDE Message and DDE Not Running blank.
10. Click okay to add the action. Then select it and click "Set as Default".

If the problem is what I think it is, this should fix it.
i'm using XP and "open" is still there and still the default. i've also made sure that a browser is associated with URL file types. WHAT NOW?!?!?