>I'm going to try uninstalling Internet Explorer and see what happens, and I'm also going to create a simple executable with a text box and a command button based on the _hyperlinkcommandbutton class. I am somewhat reluctant to tinker with a Microsoft-written class library, but I may not have much choice but to do some trial-and-error work on it.

What's the point? You already have the basic code to get you started on writing your own... the FFC class is a POS.