clicking on email links cause Outlook 2003 to hang

I've been struggling with a problem other people have had: clicking on email links in my Outlook 2003 causes the program to stop responding. I have all the Microsoft-recommended Outlook updates, and I keep my Windows XP Professional OS updated. The workaround I use is to hit the "forward" button in the email in question, then in that new window use Control + click on the the link. That works, but what a hassle to have to do it each time! Does anyone have a better answer? Thank you.

 

didn't work

Thank you for the advice to uncheck the Word editing function. I tried it, and unfortunately it didn't work. It only disabled my workaround. So I undid that fix.

I think I'll try to reinstall the Office Suite that came with my Dell computer. If that doesn't work, I think I will just get a Mac. I'm just about fed up with PCs and all their little bugs.