STUMPED:Published Course in Internet Explorer not opening MS Links

All,

Would like to know how to force links from Microsoft suite products (.ppt, word, excel, etc.) to open in IE. The links work fine when I view the course in Firefox; unfortunately, our default browser is IE.

Basically I need someone to provide me the modified code from the presentation.xml file that will open the ABC Email Template link in the parent window. I used to be able replace "_current" with  "_parent" after a link in the old .xml file and it would work, but I don't know how to update the xml (partial provided below) so that the ABC Email Template opens in the parent window. (I have also tried uploading the file instead of linking to it and no difference). Remember this only occurs when it's an MS Product. The PDFs and HTML work fine. Articulate Support had no solution.

Help!

----

<Title><![CDATA[Contact Us]]></Title>
<Type>link</Type>
<Data><![CDATA[mailto:servicinginitiatives_businessops@bankofamerica.com?subject=Email%20Etiquette%20Training]]></Data>
</Doc>
<Doc>
<Title><![CDATA[ABC Email Template]]></Title>
<Type>file</Type>
<Data><![CDATA[http://sharepoint2.bankofamerica.com/sites/SIBO/LIG/Playbook/ABC%20Email%20Template.oft]]></Data>
</Doc>
<Doc>