An Excel links problem is generally caused by one of two reasons, the first being that the actual link does not exist, and the second reason is settings.

To rule out permission errors within Excel try running the URL from your internet browser, or if it’s a link to a file try running this from the start > Run Menu

The main error we are referring to is

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

Contrary to what the error implies usually its not a permission error causing the problem.

Attempting to open any link in a spreadsheet be it a URL or link to a file gives this error

Have you recently remove any internet browsers, this happens when Excel is still looking for what it considers to be the default internet browser, even if every other file and application does see a different browser Excel can be a little bit stubborn.

To resolve this make sure that your chosen web browser is the default,

Internet Explorer
Windows Control Panel > Internet Options > Programs tab > under default web browser select Make Default.

The next option is to reset your internet browser, if you using Internet Explorer then go to the Tools Menu > Internet Options > Advanced tab > Hit the Reset button on the bottom of the screen and try open Excel and try again

The final option, which involves editing your computer registry is not something that’s recommended unless you are already familiar with this process.

This involves running the registry editor and navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\classes\.htm and adding the entry below if it does not already exist

(Default) REG_SZ htmlfile

It also worth checking to make sure that Excel’s security is not preventing the link from opening and you have access to where the link is pointing

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