Windows 8 -- Prevent Office 2010 from opening Hyperlinks in Internet Explorer

I have several hyperlinks in an Excel 2010 sheet that are .png image files. I have .png files set to open in MS Paint. In Windows 7, clicking a link would directly open the file in MS Paint. But in Windows 8, using Inteet Explorer 11, clicking the same .png link now opens inteet explorer first, and displays an aoying message, "Image will not automatically be saved", and then the image opens in MS Paint.

Is there a way to bypass Inteet Explorer, so that the hyperlink opens the file in the program associated with the extension, instead of always opening the file in Inteet Explorer?

Thanks,
Matt