Solutions 1

Virus warning appears when you click

hyperlink to program
Retired KB Content Disclaimer
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q183923
For a Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 and a Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 version of this article, see
291912 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291912/ ) .
For a Microsoft PowerPoint 97 version of this article, see 190270
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190270/ ) .
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SYMPTOMS
When you click a hyperlink to go to an object or location
outside of your Power...
When you click a hyperlink to go to an object or location outside of your PowerPoint
presentation, you may receive the following warning message:
Opening file: path to filefilename.

Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer. It is important to be
certain that this file is from a trustworthy source.

Would you like to open this file?

This behavior occurs whether or not the Macro Virus Protection option is turned on. (To locate
the Macro Virus Protection option, click Preferences on the Tools menu.)
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CAUSE
The warning message described in the "Symptoms" section
of this article is issu...
The warning message described in the "Symptoms" section of this article is issued by
Microsoft Office, not PowerPoint. This warning is referred to as the open programs warning, not
the macro virus protection warning. It appears any time you click a hyperlink to a program or run
a program. You also receive this warning when you click a hyperlink to certain types of
document files. You cannot disable this warning. Similar behavior occurs in other Microsoft
Office programs that allow you to use hyperlinks.
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WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, you can use the Run
Program option rather than th...
To work around this behavior, you can use the Run Program option rather than the
Hyperlink option in the Action Settings dialog box. This prevents the Open Programs warning
from appearing in most cases.

NOTE: You can also turn off the Macro Virus Protection option in PowerPoint.
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MORE INFORMATION
The macro virus warning is initiated by PowerPoint when
you click a hyperlink t...
The macro virus warning is initiated by PowerPoint when you click a hyperlink to a file that
may contain macros. When the macro virus warning is activated, the following message appears:
The presentation you are opening contains macros. Some macros may contain viruses that could
harm your computer.
If you are sure that this presentation is from a trusted source, click Enable Macros. If you are
not sure and want to prevent any macros from running, click Disable Macros. To disable this
feature, click to clear the Always ask before opening documents with macros check box, and
then click Enable. PowerPoint will not ask you again if macros are found in a file.

You can also disable macro virus protection by following these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences.

2. Click the General tab.
3. Click to clear the Macro Virus Protection check
box.
4. Click OK.

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Solution 2

How to disable hyperlink warning messages

in Office 2003
View products that this article applies to.

On This Page
• INTRODUCTION
• MORE INFORMATION
o Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download" option for the
file type that you are trying to open
o Method 2: Disable the warning message by modifying the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags registry subkey

Expand all | Collapse all

INTRODUCTION
This step-by-step article describes how to prevent Microsoft
Office 2003 program...
This step-by-step article describes how to prevent Microsoft Office 2003
programs from displaying a warning message every time that you click a hyperlink
in an Office 2003 program.

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MORE INFORMATION
In Office 2003, when you click a hyperlink or an object that
links to an executa...
In Office 2003, when you click a hyperlink or an object that links to an executable
file, you may receive the following error message:
Opening path/filename.

Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data. To protect your computer,
click only those hyperlinks from trusted sources. Do you want to continue?

Note This behavior occurs regardless of your security level settings. To locate your
security level settings, on the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click
Security. To disable the hyperlink warnings in Office 2003 when an HTTP:// or an
FTP:// address is used, you must create a new registry subkey. To do this, follow
these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify
the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry
incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added
protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the
registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore
the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the

registry in Windows

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open dialog box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Commo
n

Notes

o You only have to modify one of these registry subkeys, not both of
them.
o If the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
registry subkey does not exist, you may have to manually create it.
4. After you click the registry subkey, point to New on the Edit menu, and then
click Key.
5. Type Security, and then press ENTER to name the key.
6. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
7. Type DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then press ENTER to name the entry.
8. In the right pane, right-click DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then click
Modify.
9. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Decimal, and then type 1 under
Value data.
 Note A value of 0 enables the hyperlink warning message, and a value of 1
disables the warning message.
10.Click OK.
11.Quit Registry Editor.

When you open either TIF graphics or Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files, you
may receive the following warning message, even when you have already
implemented the registry key in this article:
Opening path/filename.
Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer.
It is important to be certain that this file is from a trustworthy source.
Would you like to open this file?

This additional warning message comes from HLINK.dll when link navigation is
handled. You can differentiate the Microsoft Office hyperlink warning message from
the HLINK warning message by looking for quotation marks around the file path in
the warning message. The Office message contains quotation marks, the HLINK
message does not. The warning message tries to determine if the file type itself is
unsafe by checking the extension, progid, classid, and mime type of the document.

Note You may still receive a warning message from Microsoft Windows. If you
continue to receive a warning message after you follow the methods that are
descibed in this article, use one of the following methods to resolve this issue.

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Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download" option

for the file type that you are trying to open
To do this, follow these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, select the appropriate file extension (for example,
WMV) in the Registered File Types box, then click the Advanced button.
4. Click to clear the Confirm open after download check box, then click the
OK button.
5. Click the Close button on the Folder Options dialog box.

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Method 2: Disable the warning message by modifying the

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags registry subkey
Use this method if the warning message affects multiple computers. To disable
the warning message, follow these steps.
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify
the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry
incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added
protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the
registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore
the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the

registry in Windows

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags

3. Click the EditFlags DWORD value, and then click Rename on the Edit
menu.
4. Type a new name for the DWORD value, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
6. Type EditFlags, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
8. Type 10000 (Hexadecimal), and then click OK.

To re-enable the warning message, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify
the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry
incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added
protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the
registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore
the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the
registry in Windows

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags

3. Click EditFlags, and then click Modify on the Edit menu.

4. Type 0 (Hexadecimal), and then click OK.
How to disable hyperlink warning messages
in 2007 Office programs
View products that this article applies to.

On This Page
• INTRODUCTION
• MORE INFORMATION
o Disable hyperlink warnings for 2007 Office programs
o If you still receive a warning message
 Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download" option
for the file type that you are trying to open
 Method 2: Modify the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags
registry subkey

Expand all | Collapse all

INTRODUCTION
This step-by-step article describes how to prevent 2007
Microsoft Office program...
This step-by-step article describes how to prevent 2007 Microsoft Office
programs from displaying a warning message every time that you click a hyperlink
in a 2007 Office program.

Back to the top

MORE INFORMATION
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that
tell you how to modi...
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to
modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the
registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For
added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore
the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and
restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the

registry in Windows

In 2007 Office, when you click a hyperlink or an object that links to an executable
file, you receive the following warning message:

Opening "path/filename".
Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data. To protect your computer,
click only those hyperlinks from trusted sources. Do you want to continue?

This behavior occurs regardless of your security level settings.

Note To locate your security level settings, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and
then click Security.

Additionally, when you open either TIFF images or Microsoft Document Imaging
(MDI) files, you receive the following warning message:

Opening path/filename.
Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer. It is
important to be certain that this file is from a trustworthy source. Would you like to
open this file?

You receive this warning message even when you have already implemented the
registry key that this article describes. This warning message comes from the
HLINK.dll file when link navigation is handled. You can differentiate the 2007 Office
hyperlink warning message from the HLINK warning message by looking for
quotation marks around the file path in the warning message. The 2007 Office
message contains quotation marks. The HLINK message does not contain quotation
marks. 2007 Office tries to determine whether the file type itself is unsafe by
checking the extension, the progid, the classid, and the MIME type of the document.

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Disable hyperlink warnings for 2007 Office programs

To disable the hyperlink warnings in 2007 Office Programs when an http://
address, notes:// or an ftp:// address is used, you must create a new registry
subkey. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open dialog box, type regedit, and then click OK.
 3. In Registry Editor, locate one of the following registry subkeys:
o HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common
o HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common

NoteYou only have to modify one of these registry subkeys. You do not have
to modify both of them.
Note If the Security subkey already exists, skip to Step 6 after selecting the
Security subkey.

4. Click the registry subkey, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click
Key.
5. Type Security, and then press ENTER to name the key.
6. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
7. Type DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then press ENTER to name the entry.
8. In the right pane, right-click DisableHyperlinkWarning, and then click
Modify.
9. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Decimal, and then type 1 under
Value data.

Note A value of 0 enables the hyperlink warning message. A value of 1

disables the hyperlink warning message.
10.Click OK.
11.Exit Registry Editor.

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If you still receive a warning message

You may still receive a warning message from Microsoft Windows. If you continue
to receive a warning message after you follow the steps in this article, use one of
the following methods to resolve the issue.

Note Method 1 applies only to Windows XP and earlier versions. For Windows Vista
and later versions, see Method 2.

Method 1: Turn off the "Confirm open after download"

option for the file type that you are trying to open

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, select the appropriate file name extension (for
example, WMV) in the Registered File Types box, and then click
Advanced.
4. Click to clear the Confirm open after download check box, and then click
OK.
5. In the Folder Options dialog box, click Close.
Method 2: Modify the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags registry
subkey
Use this method if the warning message affects multiple computers.

To disable the warning message, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags

3. Click EditFlags, and then click Rename on the Edit menu.

4. Type OldEditFlags, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
6. Type EditFlags, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
8. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Hexadecimal under Base.
9. Type 10000, and then click OK.

To re-enable the warning message, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WMVFile\EditFlags

3. Click EditFlags, and then click Modify on the Edit menu.

4. Type 0, and then click OK.

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