Losing the Excel Links

Excel has this nasty tendency to automatically turn any cell entry that looks like a Web address, an e-mail address, or a path to a network folder into a live hyperlink. If you then click this link (even by accident), Excel attempts to open the Web page, e-mail message program, or Windows Explorer with the network folder. Now, this is not good, because you can end up online (especially if your computer is connected to the Internet as part of its network or uses some sort of wireless connection) when all you intended to do was click a cell to select it!

Fortunately, you can stop Excel from making all these addresses hot by taking these steps:

1. Choose Tools → AutoCorrect Options to open the AutoCorrect dialog box.
2. Select the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
3. Deselect the Internet and Network Paths with Hyperlinks check box and then click OK.

If you have a worksheet that already contains hot links and you want to deactivate them, you need to right-click each link and choose Remove Hyperlink from the menu that appears.