A hyperlink in a 64-bit application starts a 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 8

In a 64-bit application, you click a hyperlink to start a Windows Internet Explorer 8 window. In this case, the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 8 starts. Therefore, you cannot browse content that is incompatible with the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 8.

This issue occurs because of the way in which Internet Explorer 8 performs hyperlink navigation.

When Internet Explorer 8 performs hyperlink navigation, it first tries to find an existing browser window. If there is no existing browser window, Internet Explorer 8 starts a new window. When this occurs, the window starts in the same bit version as the caller application unless the required bit version is specified in a context flag. Therefore, a hyperlink in a 64-bit version of an application starts a 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 8.

Security update information

To resolve this problem, install the most recent cumulative security update for Windows Internet Explorer. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more technical information about the most recent cumulative security update for Windows Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note This update was first included in security update 978207 (MS10-002). For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: