When I type this and use code cleaner
<a href="default.asp"> link</a>
I get this
<a href="/asp/default.asp">Link</a>
The link in hereis your text plus a directory pointer to the root. Maybe why I am not seeing this is I always start the file name relative to the root of the website ../asp/default.asp or /asp/default.asp. When it sees thoses it appears not to change the url.