All fine and dandy. Now, if I want Google Chrome I will get it and install it myself. I don't (let's not debate this now).
Here is the issue. when I uninstalled Chrome I forgot to make IE my default browser first. Subsequently none of the hyperlinks in Word and Excel worked. It took a while to find the solution, namely, re-install Chrome, make it the default browser, then make IE (or another browser) the default and finally remove Chrome. This fixed the hyperlink problem.
You're welcome. Custom computer: 8 processors, 16G Ram, ,C: drive 250G solid state. F: (Scratch drive) 2x 500Gb raid (0). G: (Data drive) 2Tb raid (1)
Power director Ultimate 12.0.2230.0