open external files in new window

I created a course that has a rahter large image that learners will use as a guide to a form they are completing. I put the form on a page using a button that will jump to the form and open it on a new page so they can see both the form and the guide image. It ran fine on my local pc but when I loaded it onto a network drive it failed. ( Because the original link referenced the file location on my local PC.)

I went back to the original link and changed the refernce to story_content\\external_files\\image.jpg. I also saved the external files folder to my my desktop.

I republished the course and then went back into the folder structure and reinserter the external files folder into the storyline foler. (when you publish without the reference it does not republish that folder)

Again it worked fine on my local PC but now when I load it onto the network drive the symptoms change. A colleague sitting right next to me can access the image fine when they bring up the course however I still cannot. We are both running IE8. What could be the difference between our PCs? Yes, my popup blocker is off.

Because theycan now acess it fine I don't suspect storyline but rather the PC. Any cliues?