can't launch hyperlinks from SS chat window

[Bioture]

Hello subspacers! I recently installed VMWare on my mac after trying Parallels desktop... then I realized that no hyperlinks would launch from the chat window! Also no links from MS help screens, game install screens (where they tell you to register) etc etc. will launch the browser, no matter which browser i set as the default.

I'm not sure if the VM is the culprit - if I boot directly into windows xp it does the same thing.

Tried perusing the web but couldn't find a similar problem...