Email Settings Not Recognized When Using Webpage Email Link

I've been running XP for some years and recently set up Win 7 on a new SSD. In XP and using Opera browser, if I clicked on an web page's email link, my email client (Sylpheed) would open with the address inserted. With Win 7 and the email defaults set, it won't. Instead, it always returns an "Internal communication error" page (example link: Contact Us | PCWorld). Below are screenshots of my Win 7 email defaults and Opera preferences setting. One thing I'm not sure about, if it's at all relevant, is where Opera is picking up the default application from. In XP, it picked up Opera email as the default. The Other Application file location shown is exactly the same in both, except for the drive letter.