[tknarr]

The last update only changed eq2ui_loginscene.xml (the account login screen, which you normally never see, not the character select screen). The update before that (6/27) changed eq2ui_examine.xml (the examine window) to account for new adornments. Neither change affected the links in any way, and the examine window change would've shown up immediate after the 6/27 release.

When you mouse over the links, do they brighten? If they do, the UI is detecting them as links. There have been known problems with the new Awesomium browser, you might try checking your process list with the game shut down to confirm there aren't any Awesomium-related processes hung that're interfering with launching the in-game browser again. As a last resort restarting your system will clear all hung processes. If links work correctly the first time you click on one after that but start failing to work later, that's an indication of a hung Awesomium process.

The _ProfitUI_StandardSearches.xml file controls the text and URLs used for links for various types of objects. If that file's been altered incorrectly, it can cause things to fail. The last change to it in Profit was in May 2012, it's unlikely a problem with the stock file has gone unnoticed by everyone for 2+ years but some people have customized it.