browser gone bad

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:12 am

all of a sudden, my IE6-based browser has started acting very flakey. pages are rendering poorly, or not at all. and i can't download files! i'll click on a download link, the download requestor will come up, everything seems normal - and it will download a zero byte file.

i don't *recall* having made any changes to my machine or settings that would cause this, but since i'm an uber-geek, lord only knows. however, it has the 'feel' of being a microsoft IE update gone bad.

anyone else having problems with IE?

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:17 am

anastrophe wrote: all of a sudden, my IE6-based browser has started acting very flakey. pages are rendering poorly, or not at all. and i can't download files! i'll click on a download link, the download requestor will come up, everything seems normal - and it will download a zero byte file.

i don't *recall* having made any changes to my machine or settings that would cause this, but since i'm an uber-geek, lord only knows. however, it has the 'feel' of being a microsoft IE update gone bad.

anyone else having problems with IE?

Anastrophe, you know the new PC downstairs? Running with an updated XP OS, and the latest IE. IE regularly gets stuck or doesn't render.

I still think it's an artifact of XP - which I HATE. Never have these type of problems on Windows 2000 OS.

Rant over for the minute. :p

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:21 am

since i comprehend not one word of your posts gentlemen, let me show you how i repaired my pc a couple weeks ago.......

Attached files

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:25 am

lady cop wrote: since i comprehend not one word of your posts gentlemen, let me show you how i repaired my pc a couple weeks ago.......

yeah & look at the trouble it got me in :rolleyes:

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:32 am

lady cop wrote: since i comprehend not one word of your posts gentlemen, let me show you how i repaired my pc a couple weeks ago.......

har!

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:34 am

flopstock wrote: you guys leave autoupdate enabled? interesting..

i don't, but microsoft has a funny way of updating things anyway.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:10 pm

lady cop wrote: since i comprehend not one word of your posts gentlemen, let me show you how i repaired my pc a couple weeks ago.......

Hey! Check out my Wireless Networking "work" and "customizing" I did a few months ago. It worked like a charm.

Attached files

pina · Post by **pina** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:17 pm

I use Mozilla Firefox and never had any problems, I find it much better.

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:18 pm

pina wrote: I use Mozilla Firefox and never had any problems, I find it much better.

I 100% agree.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:36 pm

I 100% agree

Unfortunately some sites I have to use IE, the contrast is irritating. I shall have to update to windows XP-too many programmes only work on windows apart from that I can get software support from product providers if i use windows anythimng else I am on my own

EllyT · Post by **EllyT** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:41 pm

I recommend using another internet pc to go to www.mozilla.org and get the installer for either the whole mozilla suite or just the Firefox browser. You can run firefox instead of IE. By the way it's more secure too, but if there's a chance your anti-virus has let you down check out the free 30 day trial at http://www.nod32.com/download/download.htm

Good luck!

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:03 pm

I don't know what os you are using, but I have Windows ME which comes with an IE repair tool.

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:09 am

i found the problem, and it was pilot error. i had IE configured to save its temporary files on a particular partition that i'd been using for dedicated swap space. i moved the swap to a different drive, and reduced the partition in question down to a tiny size (wanted to keep it in place so as not to mess up my drive lettering). the partition filled up, IE couldn't save temp files any longer, so couldn't display pages properly. doh.

in response to the other post about firefox - firefox is *not* more secure than IE. IE has been around nearly a decade. it has a long, and ignominious history of security problems, no question about it. that said however, firefox has released several emergency updates themselves for security issues. the raw total number of exploits is a fraction of what IE has under its belt, but the new firefox exploits have been no less serious than those IE has suffered with.

again, this isn't a defense of IE. it's a caution not to accept hype, and not to let your guard down, simply because the new kid on the block seems 'better'.

(in fact, i use the Maxthon browser, which is built 'on top of' IE. it provides me with a tabbed interface precisely the way i want it. i'm very comfortable with it. firefox is fine, however i don't care for the tab handling. and of course, i was using tabs in maxthon/myIE2 long before firefox was a glimmer in mozilla's eye...)

oh - further note re antivirus - i use AVG free - 100% free, no adware or spyware, works great. highly recommended. http://www.grisoft.com