I rewrote the Question to add everything that i tried so far.
Many of my applications are being opened by Internet Explorer. (not
all)
For example when I run Firefox.exe (from shortcut) I get IE run
instead, with the following URL
http: // %22d/ Browser/firefox.exe%22
(I added spaces to prevent link creation)
the shortcut target is: "D:\Browser\firefox.exe"
when I attempted to open firefox.exe from it's folder the results were
the same as the previous one
I attempted to open it by cmd, so i navigated with cmd to the FF path
then wrote: firefox.exe
the was the same except that the URL was:
http: // Firefox.exe/
when i jsut write firefox the result URL was:
http: // Firefox/
(is it some kind of parameter or something??)
trying the same with chrome resulted the same results as the previous
tests.
I tried creating a new user (adminstartor) but the problem still
there.
I tried every registry key with exe on it (not sure if i tried them
all) no change
I tried removing IE but came back by itself somehow, meanwhile IE is
removed, FF and its fellow apps gave me open with window
I tried reinstalling the applications but it just no use.
Time Line: (as requested from @Daredev)
I don't know when it happened because the computer is for the
company i work for and it was like that since i got it. (The IT
there gave up on the problem lon time ago!).
applications were installed already are "firefox" and "XPS viewer"
.
applications were working after the problem everything except what
uses browsing (MS help viewer, XPS viewer, firefox-even I've re
installed it-, opera, chrome)
that what I thought but after installing Maxthon , comodoDragon
this theory was blown away.
system info:
1- windows xp professional service pack 3
2- system fully patched: Yes
3- anti-virus up to date: Yes
4- same behavior when booting into safe mode: Yes
