Right click the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop and go to Properties, then click the Programs tab.

In the Email field, change it to Gmail (it should be listed in the dropdown menu).

Your "mailto" link will subsequently open in Gmail in any browser.

Xircal: thanks for replying.

I don't have an Internet Explorer icon on my desktop, so I found a tiny one in the system tray. It has no Programs tab. The five tabs on the icon properties are General, Shortcut, Compatibility, Security, Details. Did you mean actually open the Internet Explorer browser to do this? If so, then I see Tools>Internet Options>Programs, but there's no option for Gmail there.

Never mind. I think it's a FF4 specific problem. As I said, it works in FF3, and, having set it up in FF4 it works on right-click, it's just the regular left-click that locks up the tab. I have to press the back or reload button to escape from it.

Could you try running Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to eliminate an add-on as the cause of the problem?

Tried that. In any case, I only got FF4 today, it's straight out of the box. I can live with it, it's only a minor annoyance.

I would be interested to know how you actually did that Internet Explorer change. My version is IE7. Is that different from the version you are using? And how would any changes in that browser cross over to others? I'm intrigued.

I'm using IE8. I'd recommend you download that since it's a lot more secure for those occasions when it does become necessary to use it i.e. to update Windows manually for example.

Most of the menus are the same as in previous versions though. You can access them from within IE by going to Tools | Internet Options | Programs. See screenshot.