External links don't work in chrome wtf?

harvest

I'm pretty good at fixing computer stuff (it's my job) but this one has really got me.

Click a link in google talk, doesn't open. Or Skype. Or IRC.

Set browser default to IE, links work fine.

Reinstalled Chrome, still no links.

Anyone encountered this? The search terms I'm using in Google are apparently too vague to return meaningful results and I'm not sure I know how to narrow it down. Advice please!

SiliconStew

Check registry settings.

set HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice\Progid
and HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\https\UserChoice\Progid
to
ChromeHTML

set HKCR\http\shell\open\command\(Default)
and HKCR\https\shell\open\command\(Default)
and HKCR\htmlfile\shell\open\command\(Default)
to
"c:\your app path\chrome.exe" "%1"

harvest

That was helpful and instructive in seeing how the pieces work together, but unfortunately the values were already set correctly and it's still not working.

harvest

I fixed it by rolling back to Sunday's restore point. I don't even...