RE #2, I found that this corrects it:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open\ddeexec

(Default) REG_SZ had no value, so I gave it this:

"%1",,0,0,,,,

And now Opera always jumps to attention when clicking links in mail. It
seems to jump to attention a lot faster than it did before, too.

"Milhouse Van Houten" <btvs@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:OqEf2RYlHHA.4960@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> Thanks a LOT (it's good to confirm there is at least one other person who
> uses Opera).
>
> I'll explain what I found when comparing that reg file with what I had.
> Other than the drive letters, it was all the same until I got to the
> section below -- which was ENTIRELY missing. I'm assuming it was there
> once, since Outlook had been working with Opera (9.20) for a week in
> Vista, but it was gone now. Once I restored that section, just like on
> your system, Opera appears in "Associate a file type or protocol..." and
> is set to Opera. Now links from Outlook open in Opera, just like all my
> other programs have opened in Opera all along--even when the section was
> missing.
>
> Two questions, though:
> 1) When you go to Start/Default Programs/Set your default programs, is
> Opera listed there too? I don't think it's important, but it's not there.
> Firefox is, in addition to a couple other non-MS programs
> 2) This one's important: Ever since I've moved to Vista, I've noticed that
> links I click in Outlook and Windows Mail (those are the two main apps I
> use with links) do open in Opera, but about half the time Opera remains
> minimized. I can find no rhyme or reason to it, as it seems random. This
> never happened in XP. Do you know of anything that controls whether an
> application rises to the foreground in this situation?
>
> Thanks
>
> Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol]
> "FriendlyTypeName"="Opera"
> "EditFlags"=dword:00000002
> "URL Protocol"=""
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\DefaultIcon]
> @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Opera\\Opera.exe\",1"
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell]
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open]
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open\command]
> @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Opera\\Opera.exe\" \"%1\""
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open\ddeexec]
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open\ddeexec\Application]
> @="Opera"
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Opera.Protocol\shell\open\ddeexec\Topic]
> @="WWW_OpenURL"
>
> "Ramesh, MS-MVP" <ramesh@XOX.mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:O103dxXlHHA.1532@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Hi Milhouse,
>
> Does uninstalling and then reinstalling Opera help? If that does not help,
> you may download a REG file which restores missing keys related to Opera
> registration. It's available here:
> [url]http://www.winhelponline.com/fixes/opera_fix.reg[/url]. Download the file and
> save it to Desktop. Right-click on the file and then choose Merge. If you
> want to view the contents of the file, open it using Notepad.
>
> Note: The file paths are hard-coded for C:\ drive. You may need to change
> the drive-letter if you've Windows installed in a different drive than C:\
>
> FYI, I'm using the latest version of Opera and it's listed correctly when
> I use the "Associate a file type or protocol..." dialog.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
> Windows® Troubleshooting [url]http://www.winhelponline.com[/url]
>
>
> "Milhouse Van Houten" <btvs@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
> news:ejxe88WlHHA.1624@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Could someone tell me why when on Ultimate I go here: Start/Default
> Programs/"Associate a file type or protocol..."
>
> Scroll down to "URL : HyperText Transfer Protocol"
>
> I get only the choice between IE and FF:
> [url]http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1609/capturexx4.png[/url]
>
> Why can't I choose other browsers? Opera is the default browser on the
> system and it's not even listed here as a choice.
>
> Everything I've tested opens links in Opera, but Outlook 2007 suddenly
> decided today that it wants to use IE. If I change the above screen to FF,
> it uses FF, so I'm thinking if I could choose Opera there it would use
> Opera
> again, though it apparently wasn't necessary before.
>
> The corresponding Registry entry seems to be this:
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice
>
> The value there does change to something appropriate for IE or FF when you
> use the above screen to change the browser for the HTTP protocol. However,
> when I put "Opera.Protocol" there (which was what it always used to be),
> links in Outlook still open in IE.
>[/color]