Just lately I have been unable to open .DOC and .XLS files (& probably
others) from either Windows Explorer by double-clicking or from the context
menu Open, or from Outlook Express as attachments. When I try to open them
this way they freeze the calling program, Windows Explorer or Outlook Express.

I can succesfully open such files from within their native applications,
Word or Excel. Only last week I was able to open them from within Windows
Explorer or Outlook Express but this ability seems to have gone away lately.

I think this might have something to do with DDE. Both file types say Use DDE.

The DDE Message fields were :-
For .DOC: [REM _DDE_Direct][FileOpen("%1")]
For .XLS: [open("%1")]

If I blank out these DDE Message fields then I can at least open these file
types from Windows Explorer. However, not from within Outlook Express; it now
longer freezes, but does open the native applications, Word or Excel, which
errors with the message "The file Documents is not available" for Word or
"Cannot find C:\Documents.XLS" and further msgs for Excel.

Any ideas? Has a recent Windows Update changed these file associations?