29 replies to this topic

[Ron.M]

Dear person: I have a problem on both of my computers....I have a Dell Optiplex GX1 & Dell GX280 SFF.... BOTH units have Win XP Pro... The problem is with IE-7....When I go to HotMail.com to check on my emails from WTT ,etc, I get a white page , no graphics or emails show....This is AFTER I successfuly login.....There is a data stream just above the start tray that continously repeats itself forever.... On the "GX1" , I have FireFox & IE-7 installed.......When I go to HotMail , I can login & READ my emails with FireFox only....Before you start jumping up & down & say use FireFox, let me tell you why I don't like to use it.... I compared FireFox & IE-7 on the SAME computer..... Results==>....On ALL webpages & my regular email provider (NetZero) , IE-7 blew away FireFox on speed for loading pages , going to websites , etc.....FireFox is / was VERY slow....I prefer IE-7....When I first signed up for HotMail , IE-7 worked fine.....I tried to contact HotMail about the prob , no luck.....They have a "Solution Center" there that's totally useless!!! Your help WILL be GREATLY appreciated......THANK you.....

Edited by Ron.M, 18 April 2009 - 01:33 PM.

[Ztruker]

Ron, what happens if you start IE7 without Add-ons? Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) If it works correctly then you need to use Tools / Manage Add-ons to find out which one is causing the problem.

[Ron.M]

Ztrucker:
I REALLY appreciate it when a guy such as yourself who loves FireFox as much as you do, helps a person such as myself with a problem with IE-7....THANK YOU!!.....

I have currently 14 enabled add-ons....See both attachments ....I am leary of disableing all of them for fear of disabeling some vital computer functions that may cause me to have problems going online etc....There are some that I have no fear to disable....Such as AVG ,which I no longer have , Roboform, Netzero bar , etc.....I'm not so sure about some of the others....Especially those that say "Browser"
[attachment=3618:IE_7_add_ons.JPG] [attachment=3619:IE_7__2.JPG]

Please let me know if it's safe to disable all of them at one shot or should I (or you) select some possibilities....THANKS......

EDIT:...After posting this, I went here:==>
""Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)""
A screen popped up saying that ""Internet Explorer was currently running without add-ons""

Edited by Ron.M, 18 April 2009 - 01:36 PM.

[Abydos]

Hi Ron If you follow the directions given by Ztruker, it will start without addons. But the moment you close the browser, it will go back to normal. It is only to determine if it is indeed a addon causing the problems. When you get the message that IE is "running without addons" just visit some of the pages you have trouble with, like everyday normal browsing. If the error is not reproduced, then we'll need to look at addons to disable. If you discover that a addon is the trouble-maker, start with disabling ½ the list, then browse normally, see if the error reproduces, if not, the culprit is not among that ½. Enable those again, and then same procedure with the second ½. You can keep doing this procedure until you get the culprit narrowed in. Taking ½ of the ½ everytime. Do note, that sometimes it is more than one addon causing the troubles. It is perfectly safe to disable any of those addons Ron for troubleshooting. Running in safe-mode will as an example, disable all of them temporarily. Once you find the culptrit, you go back and enable those you need. Regards

[Ztruker]

Ron, did you try it? The purpose of Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) is to determine if an Add-on is causing the problem. If it works when they are disabled, then you need to use Tools / Manage Add-ons to disable them one at a time until you find the culprit, then uninstall it or leave it disabled. It's temporary for that one time you start IE, so is an excellent diagnostic tool.

[Ron.M]

Hi, Ztruker & Abydos: ....
1st Ztruker: Just to make sure I did this the right way, here's what I did in order:....1st ,I logged in & got online....Then I went to "Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)" & a page opened that said IE-7 was running without add-ons......I immediatly went to HotMail.com ...This time I get a white page that has completed downloading.....The data stream I told you about earlier is NOT there....Instead it says "Done".....
OK , where do we go from here???

Abydos:
The above test showed I wont be needing to disable add-ons (I think) as you so kindly suggested....Thanks for the detailed step by step info....I may need it later on , depending how this goes....
Thanks to you both....
Later......

EDIT: Ztruker:...What happened to:==>...."The only thing Internet Explorer is good for is to download FireFox".....Didn't you used to have that line in your replies????......Or am I mistaken ???...Later....

Edited by Ron.M, 18 April 2009 - 06:47 PM.

[Ztruker]

Ron, it looks like you use Dial-up and Netzero as your provider. Do you also like watching paint dry

Try restoring IE7 to it's default state.

First, create a new System Restore point. See here, near the bottom: http://www.microsoft...temrestore.mspx

Open IE7, click on Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab.
Click on the Reset button.

Yes, this will dump all Add-ons and eliminate any other changes made to IE, which will tell us for sure if the problem is IE specific ( which it seems to be) or not. If this doesn't make any difference, use System Restore to go back to before you did the reset. If it does make a difference, then you will have to start reinstalling some of the Add-ons as they are needed, like Adobe. I don't know what most of the other ones you listed are for, except AVG Safe Surf which you can do without (in my opinion), as well as the Netzero Add-0ns.

If you feel this is to drastic or are concerned about what it will do to IE, you can instead try creating a new XP account. Once you do, log off your current account, login to the new account, then without making any changes, open IE7 and see if you can read your Hotmail.

Post back with results.

Just had another thought. If you upgraded to IE7 after installing SP3 then you can uninstall IE7 from Add or Remove Programs and see how IE6 behaves. If SP3 was installed after the upgrade to IE7 then you can't uninstall it.

[Ron.M]

Ztruker: ...

Do you also like watching paint dry ?

NO , I like to watch grass grow...

Some of your info I'll touch on tonite...The rest I'll do tommorrow(Monday).....

Just had another thought. If you upgraded to IE7 after installing SP3 then you can uninstall IE7 from Add or Remove Programs and see how IE6 behaves. If SP3 was installed after the upgrade to IE7 then you can't uninstall it.

I need to clarify a few things here....On the old Dell (Optiplex GX1) , HotMail worked until recently.....It does not have SP-3....The "new" Dell (GX280) came with SP-3.....I downloaded IE-7 for this unit......It would NOT open up HotMail from the git-go......So both units have IE-7....

Ron, it looks like you use Dial-up and Netzero as your provider.

Yes,I do...Reason is , I'm retired & not making ends meet with those "wunnerful" Soc Sec checks.....You have no idea what I went thru to get the "new' Dell.....
It's 9:40 PM here so I'll do the "Restore" & "Reset", etc ,tommorrow & get back to you...

THANK YOU VERY MUCH......

[Ron.M]

Ztruker or ??:
Here's the lowdown:=>

""Try restoring IE7 to it's default state.""...<=Did that , did not work...
""Open IE7, click on Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab.
Click on the Reset button.""....<=Did that,did not work...

ALL add-ons are disabled....

I tried a "System Restore" ...<=.Did not work...In fact , it made things worse....I could NOT get online (Dialing problem) & could not re-install NetZero from CD.....So un-did "System Restore" to present day....

The attachment below is what I got when I restored back to a week ago....You will need to magnify it to read the small print...

[attachment=3639:Netzero_...up_error.JPG]

I don't have a clue what that's all about,do you???

MANY,MANY THANKS

PS: I don't like AVG either....It caused problems on BOTH computers....

[Ztruker]

Hi Ron. Sorry those ideas didn't help.

I don't much care for AVG any more either. It's become as intrusive and resource intensive as Norton and McAfee. I prefer Comodo Internet Security which is a Antivirus/Firewall suite but it won't run on my desktop computer, so I use Avira Antivir for AV and the firewall only part of Comodo Internet Security for my firewall.

Did you try creating a new account and seeing if that makes a difference?

Edit: I know you don't like FireFox, but does the problem occur if you use it or is it specific to IE only? If it does not happen with FF then I would suggest uninstalling IE7, which will revert you to IE6. Shutdown and reboot and see how Hotmail works. If it's okay then you can stay with IE6 or try reinstalling IE7.

Edited by Ztruker, 20 April 2009 - 07:02 PM.

[Ron.M]

Ztruker:..
1st in reply:...There are numerous negative reports about McAfee online...
Norton has some problems also....AVG caused problems in BOTH of my computers....
I run with Avast!.....Since I've installed it on both units, I've had NO infections of ANY kind & get automatic updates daily....How great is that ??
The problem I have with FireFox is that it loads the webpages , etc, VERY slowly as directly compared to IE-7....
It's NOT that I don't like FireFox , it's that FireFox doesn't like me , my Dells , dial-up, NetZero , WinXP Pro or whatever....If it would work as good or better than IE-7, I'd use it in a heartbeat....
""Did you try creating a new account and seeing if that makes a difference?"" No , I didn't...I'm hesitant to try this....Since this is a "new" computer with a fresh install of WinXP Pro with SP-3 , it's not clear to me whether or not this would work.....If you ask again , I WILL do it just to rule it out...
""I know you don't like FireFox, but does the problem occur if you use it or is it specific to IE only? If it does not happen with FF then I would suggest uninstalling IE7, which will revert you to IE6. Shutdown and reboot and see how Hotmail works. If it's okay then you can stay with IE6 or try reinstalling IE7 "" It works with FireFox ONLY.....It does NOT work with IE-7.....I uninstalled IE-7 & rebooted....Did NOT work....Same problem!!
I'm not certain it reverted to IE-6,it may have...Reason is that this "new' unit came with WinXP Pro SP-3 & IE-7 MAY be a part of it....I've already tried re-installing IE-7 MORE than a few times to NO avail....
This looks like it's going to be another "fun" one, doesn't it ??

Thank you , sir.. .....Ron.....

[Ztruker]

Definitely FUN!

I really thought uninstalling IE7 would fix this, wrong again. To tell what is installed, open IE, then click on Help then About Internet Explorer.

What is currently installed, IE6 or IE7? This is definitely something to so with IE since FF works okay.

Read through this series of posts and see if any of it helps: http://en.kioskea.ne...nect-to-hotmail

Meanwhile I'm going to ask some of the other folks here to take a look at this thread and see if they have any ideas.

[Doug]

Hi Ron.M and Z and Abydos,

Long-Shot....

I run Zone Alarm firewall.
When loading IE I am notified

• Access to Internet
• Access to Trusted Zone

>>> Now is where "I don't know cause I don't use it"

I'm wondering if it is also necessary to allow Hotmail to "act as a Server"
if so, you would have to cause your software firewall to allow "act as a Server"

Not knowing what firewall you use, I don't know how to make further recommendations.
but have a look in your Firewall - Program Controls ---- for IE

When firewalls get updates, they will occasionally revert to default settings.
Maybe that happened to you recently?

Otherwise, we'll just keep having FUN.

[Ron.M]

Ztruker & Doug:..

1st:..Ztruker:...
We DID revert to IE-6...It's still on IE-6...
I went to the link you gave & did almost EVERY adjustment there....<==..Did NOT work....

2nd:..Doug:......

>>> Now is where "I don't know cause I don't use it"....(<=.OK , I got this part)...I'm wondering if it is also necessary to allow Hotmail to "act as a Server" if so, you would have to cause your software firewall to allow "act as a Server"

I'm still a newbie & don't understand any of that,sorry....

"" have a look in your Firewall - Program Controls ---- for IE"" <==..I'm using Windows Firewall....& could not find IE there....


BUT , Ztruker & Doug , take a look at what I found in the attachment.....(Magnify to read small print)....On my computer it takes 10~15 seconds for the magnifier to kick in...After right & left clicking a few times it shows up....

[attachment=3650:Firewall.JPG]

It's part of Windows Firewall....
You'll notice that NONE of the "Internet Mail" boxes are checked.....Could that be our problem ???
It would be nice if that's it.....
Let me know if I should do anything there & if it's safe to try.....

THANK you BOTH.............

Edited by Ron.M, 21 April 2009 - 09:12 PM.

[Ztruker]

Ron, an easy way to check is to turn off Windows firewall on the General tab. If that works then we'll have to figure out what needs to be done. I don't use Windows Firewall, I have the Firewall from Comodo Internet Security installed and Windows firewall turned off.