Q:

A: Windows 7 lacks an e-mail program, which causes more than a few problems. Microsoft expects people to download and install its free Windows Live Mail e-mail program. Or, you can download competing free e-mail programs like Thunderbird, and install them to handle your e-mail chores.

But if you’re using a Web-based e-mail service, like the ones provided by many Internet Service Providers like AT&T, you’re left in the lurch: Internet Explorer doesn’t consider them to be e-mail programs, so it won’t let you send pages and links using its menu.

So, since those menu options are grayed out, you’re stuck with these convoluted steps:

1. Highlight the link you want to send from within Internet Explorer’s Address bar.
2. Right-click the highlighted link and choose Copy.
3. Log on to your e-mail service and create a new e-mail.
4. Right-click inside your blank e-mail and choose Paste.

The link will appear in your e-mail window, ready for you to send to a friend.

The grayed-out links begin working once you install an e-mail program like Windows Live Mail, but you still might have to make a few extra tweaks.

Q:

On Internet Explorer 8′s Page menu, the “Send Page by E-mail” and “Send Link by E-mail” options are both “grayed out,” and I can’t choose them. Help!

A: Windows 7 lacks an e-mail program, an inconvenience Microsoft tries to remedy by letting people download the free “Windows Live Mail” e-mail program.

But once installed, Windows Live Mail doesn’t always tell Internet Explorer that it’s now in charge of your e-mail, leading to the “grayed out” options shown in the image above.

The fix? You must whisper in Internet Explorer’s ear about your new e-mail program by following these steps:

1. Click the Start button and choose Default Programs.
2. Choose the bottom option, “Set Program Access and Computer Defaults.”
3. Click the word Custom.
4. In the section called “Choose a default web browser,” choose Internet Explorer.
5. In the section called “Choose a default e-mail program,” choose Windows Live Mail.
6. Click OK to save your changes.

Windows 7 tells Internet Explorer to start using Windows Live Mail, and the options on Internet Explorer’s Page menu begin working again.

Not using Windows Live Mail or any other e-mail program? If you log onto a Web site to read your e-mail, Internet Explorer’s disabled links have a different problem.