I have a solution for the "cannot find file:///c;program%20files/aol%20 toolbar/welcome.html problem. At least, in my case (IE7 on Vista) it solved the problem.
The trouble is with AOL's installation software. It adds a key to the windows registry that looks like this:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"First Home Page" = C:/Program Files/AOL Toolbar/Welcome.html
This key apparently overrides the home page settings set within IE. Worse, an uninstall of AOL does NOT remove the key from the registry. So every time IE starts up, this key tells the system to go look for a welcome file that HAS been removed. Naturally, the file cannot be found, and s that's why you see the error message.
Anyway, there are two ways to fix this. Option 1 is to delete this key in its entirety. If you do this, you will once again be able to set your home page inside IE under Tools/Internet Options.
Option 2 is to hard code the URL you want to be your home page in place of AOL's Welcome.html file name. My wife likes AOL (God knows why) so for her I hard coded the registry to proceed directly to AOL. The key now looks like this:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"First Home Page" = http colon slash slash www dot aol dot com
(Note that colons and slashes should be replaced by actual punctuation)
After this change, when she opens IE, there are no more error messages and her beloved AOL webpage opens up straight away.
As always, be careful with editing registry, but I'm a neophyte and had no trouble doing this.
I am too new to post links in this response. But I would try triple-w slash computerperformance slash co slash uk slash vista slash vista_registry for basic guidance on simple registry edits like this one.
Good luck!
