The thing with running IE7 in standalone is that we only add the necessary keys for it to run and render pages correctly. There is a group of registry keys that are apparently responsible for spawning sub/new windows (the combo box is considered a window). They are not added to the windows registry; hence we are unable to open new windows (except right click-> open new Window).

So to answer your question, it is definitely something to do with the standalone program. I'll see if i can find those keys.