55 replies to this topic

[Danny2007]

I defragged the hard drive a couple of nights ago. Things are running more smoothly and my tests at PCPitStop have improved too. On the other hand, the content encoding errors are still showing up. Less frequently than at the beginning, but still being a nuisance from time to time. Could there be any tweaks in Firefox (about:config) which might fix this problem? The error causes my whole internet connection to be unresponsive. Browsers, email, iTunes...everything.

[Doug]

Hi Danny,

I have not found any bugfix from Mozilla.
This seems to be a mysterious confluences of detail.
For those that have the problem, it is a real show-stopper, not just an annoyance.
For those that don't experience the problem, it's as if the problem doesn't exist.
But you are not alone. The internet is filled with complaints from Firefox users.

When you began this problem thread, I believe that you were running Firefox 3.0.5
The current version is Firefox 3.0.6
Have you updated?
Ooops sorry, in Post #9 you indicated Firefox did update
http://forums.whatth...=...st&p=526235

Things that may be unique to your situation:
TELUS ISP
VISTA Home Basic SP1
Various BHO download assist utilities

Have you tried using another machine with your same internet connection.
Like having a friend come try their laptop via your dsl connection?

In the meantime, if you use stictly IE 7.0 without ever opening a browser of Firefox, do you have successful browsing without this content encoding error?

I wish I had discovered a solution or at least some encouraging news from Firefox....
Hang in there.

Some one of our talented folks may drop by with a solution.
Or if you find the solution, you will probably be a Hero to many others when you share it.

Best Regards

[Abydos]

Hi again

I might also uninstall Firefox and reinstall the whole thing.

Did you ever try this? Before you go ahead do this. You could try surf a while
in Firefox safe-mode and see if the problem occur. But only use safe-mode
on those sites deemed trustworthy. That is, pages you know to be harmless.
If you wanna try go ahead uninstall it, please do backup your bookmarks and
profile. Mozbackup is adequate in doing that job.

Mozbackup:http://mozbackup.jas...om/download.php

See below why you might want to try this.

-------------------------------------

I have yet to experience the problem myself and so many other Firefox users as well. That
some have the error, and some not, is a puzzle. With so many users involved, it is difficult
to find a single thing that all of them have in common, for those that have the error, and those
not. It may even be more than one single cause.

I did find this page, where a couple of programmers discuss the problem (So it is not just the
average user having this problem) It seems that one of them found a solution to his problem
with contents error. One involves using proxy and the other was a simple re-install of Firefox
and all of his plugins (!!)

http://www.icyphoeni...opic.php?t=4646

Remember, if you try this. Don't install plugins from any page requesting you to install it, in
order to view the content found on the page. If a page make this request, take note of the plugin
in question. Then go to the official site for the plugin, google it if necessary, and download it from
there to your desktop. Close Firefox and install.

--------------------------------------

Could there be any tweaks in Firefox (about:config) which might fix this problem?

Hmm. I sincerely don't know. It is very few thing I have altered in my About:Config. But if it was the
case, I would think that the solution to this problem was already been found long ago from others
who have this problem. Altho, I can't exclude that the answer might lie in there somewhere. But it is
one of the few places in Firefox where a inexperienced user really can mess up ones browser. So it
is best left alone for experiementing. Only use safe and tried tweaks in this area.

I''ll continue investigate the problem.

Regards

[Danny2007]

Hi Danny,

I have not found any bugfix from Mozilla.
This seems to be a mysterious confluences of detail.
For those that have the problem, it is a real show-stopper, not just an annoyance.
For those that don't experience the problem, it's as if the problem doesn't exist.
But you are not alone. The internet is filled with complaints from Firefox users.

Hey Doug,

I've uninstalled Firefox 3.0.6. I have not reinstalled it as I wanted to use the other two browsers to see how they'd act.

I'm using Opera 9.63 right now. The latest version.

First day: everything ran perfectly. Opera is a noticeably faster browser. It runs very smoothly. No errors. No distorted images. No problems.

Second day: (Today) Random text/code displaying for certain webpages. On some, portions of random text show up at the top of the page. On others, the entire webpage is just random code. And it's not just certain websites. It has happened on around a dozen websites which aren't related to it each other. Unlike with Firefox, there is no 'error message' per se. The websites just start displaying incorrectly. Sometimes there's a long delay...nothing will show up. It will take a couple of minutes just to load a website. Sometimes a simply F5 refresh does the trick and it's as if nothing ever happened. Other times, I have to close the browser before I can view the website again. Another difference is that Opera doesn't require a complete REBOOT of my laptop before it works again. However, with Firefox, a reboot would be the only thing that would make the problem go away....temporarily.

Things that may be unique to your situation:
TELUS ISP
VISTA Home Basic SP1
Various BHO download assist utilities

What are the BHO download assist utilities?

Have you tried using another machine with your same internet connection.
Like having a friend come try their laptop via your dsl connection?

No, I haven't tried that.

In the meantime, if you use stictly IE 7.0 without ever opening a browser of Firefox, do you have successful browsing without this content encoding error?

No, once Opera started acting up, I switched to IE. The same sort of problems. The only error message that displays is the 'Can't display the page' type errors. Personally, I've never liked IE. It has always seemed a bit clunky and sluggish no matter what PC I've had.

Aside from this continued error, two other problems which have cropped up recently....

- Erratic download speeds. My connection can handle download speeds of up to 640 kb/s. When things are running smoothly, that's the norm. However, I've noticed that the download rate has been quite erratic lately. Sometimes it will be in the 300-400 kb/s range, other times it will jump all over the place from one second to the next, if you know what I mean. From say, 48 kb/s to 179 kb/s, to 430 kb/s....it makes no sense.

- Internet connection disconnecting randomly...



The icon of the two little Computers in the bottom right corner of the taskbar with the Globe/Planet Earth logo sometimes switches to the icon showing just two computers...which means my access is restricted to "Local Only" so I'm unable to surf the web...



Like with the rest of these errors, it happens at random times (from what I can tell). Sometimes I wait a few moments and refresh the page and the Globe icon reappears...letting me know that I'm connected again...other times I have to close the browser entirely. When I open it again, sometimes the Globe icon reappears at the same time........still other times it makes no difference and I'm forced to REBOOT!!

I'm getting fed up with all these little problems which were nonexistent before I moved two months ago.

If it's not related to Firefox specifically, what else could it be??

[Danny2007]

Hi again

Hi Abydos!

You could try surf a while
in Firefox safe-mode and see if the problem occur. But only use safe-mode
on those sites deemed trustworthy. That is, pages you know to be harmless.
If you wanna try go ahead uninstall it, please do backup your bookmarks and
profile. Mozbackup is adequate in doing that job.

I tried Safe Mode a few times. It never made a difference. And I don't think there are sites deemed trustworthy anymore. LOL. Seems like they've all caused me problems at one time or another...

I used MozBackup to backup my bookmarks and most of my settings. Thanks. I haven't done a fresh install of Firefox yet. See message above.

It doesn't seem to be directly related to Firefox or browser plugins since the problems have continued even after I uninstalled it.

I'm stumped.

Edited by Danny2007, 22 February 2009 - 04:09 AM.

[Abydos]

Hi

Ok. I do think that we should be looking on your ISP. This is just an idea
of mine, but some ISP's compress page requests in order to save bandwidth
for more popular pages. If the same pages which is getting their data
compressed have a setting of cache control named private, the data would then
be targeting a single user, but if the ISP is compressing the data, it is no longer
a private cache. This is probably gibberish, so instead, I think we should put it to
the test!

Enter any page that you previously have had problems with, through this Proxy
service:

http://www.hidemyass.com/proxy/

Surf for a while through this proxy and see if the error occurs. ISP's can't compress
data going through a proxy server, as they are encrypted. If we are lucky, this is the
"solution". And I can present you with a more permanent solution if it is the case.

Regards

[Doug]

Abydos, In my "fuzzy logic" sort of way I have been wondering the same about Danny's ISP. Actually, I was wondering if the ISP actually forces a Proxy and whether or not that can be changed? Further rambling of my "fuzzy logic" causes me to wonder if Danny can use OpenDNS to avoid any impact caused by Tellus ISP. I think that you have previously mentioned that use of DNS alternatives such as OpenDNS is not allowed in some European countries. But is it worth a try? I'll step back now, since the ideas that I've set forth are only at the edge of my "fuzzy view of things".

[Abydos]

Abydos,

In my "fuzzy logic" sort of way I have been wondering the same about Danny's ISP.
Actually, I was wondering if the ISP actually forces a Proxy and whether or not that can be changed?

Further rambling of my "fuzzy logic" causes me to wonder if Danny can use OpenDNS to avoid any impact caused by Tellus ISP.
I think that you have previously mentioned that use of DNS alternatives such as OpenDNS is not allowed in some European countries.
But is it worth a try?
I'll step back now, since the ideas that I've set forth are only at the edge of my "fuzzy view of things".

Aye Doug, OpenDNS would be the solution on a more permanent basis. OpenDNS isn't forbidden by european countries, however, some european countries have forbidden their ISP's to redirect customers, like Verizon does it. As this is against the european idea of free will, also on the internet. Altho, the battle going on in europe around ThePirateBay and other P2P linking sites, sort of contradicts this believe. But thats another story

So your "fuzzy" logic is not that "fuzzy" after all!



Regards

[Doug]

Where did you get that fine portrait snapshot of me? If you were outside my office window, I didn't see you. Next time knock.

[Danny2007]

Hey guys, I should also add that when the browsers start acting wonky and freeze up...I sometimes try to get to the task manager by Ctrl+Alt+Del. The following message in a window appears on a black background: "Logon process failed to create the security option dialog. Failure - Security Options" Googling shows that this is a common problem on machines running Vista. When this happens, I've noticed that it's also impossible to shutdown or reboot via the usual Start > Shutdown method. I will try that Proxy idea shortly.

Edited by Danny2007, 22 February 2009 - 02:05 PM.

[Abydos]

Hi

Couldn't find anything solid surefire result on "Logon process failed to create the security option dialog.
Failure - Security Options". However, a lot of forum solutions evolves around security programs in conflict.
From my point of view, that would be some kind of security application that are able to block scripts. Like
Firewalls, some AV's if they have HIPS, Anti-spyware app's with HIPS or Registry protection.

So could you list what security applications you have running, including passive ones.

Regards

[Abydos]

Hi Danny

Ok, I looked over your HJT-log once again, and found some items which shouldn't be there.
Not malware, but some services and entries needing fixing. As we don't analyze and advice
on HJT-logs in the tech forums, I asked some senior staff-member's how to approach this.

So heres what we are going to do.

Post a new topic in the malware forum, with a fresh HJT-log.

Then you will get some help fixing those entries. Once done,
post back here in this thread, and we take it from there.

Edit: Forgot to mention, That it would be great if you posted a link to your thread in the malware forum, once
posted. That way, it makes it easier for me, to direct a senior staff to your thread.

Regards

Edited by Abydos, 22 February 2009 - 05:07 PM.

[Danny2007]

Hi Abydos,

I've posted a fresh logfile as you requested HERE. Also included a link back to this thread.

So could you list what security applications you have running, including passive ones.

What do you mean by passive ones? Anyway, as far as I'm aware, the only security related programs I'm running are:

ZoneAlarm Free (v.8.0.065.000)
avast! Anti-Virus v4.8 Home Edition
SpywareBlaster v4.1
Spybot Search & Destroy v1.6.2 (i disabled the Tea Timer application which comes with it)

I got rid of Windows Defender.

I've disabled Windows Firewall

My ISP provides an internet security package as part of the service but I disabled it from the beginning. 'Telus eProtect Advisor'.

I've been using Opera browser the last few days as I mentioned earlier. Although I notice that certain websites don't display properly so I have to switch to Internet Explorer 7. It's been two full days since I've had any distortion/content encoding problems but that has happened before...the errors always seem to reappear eventually.

I've also noticed that if I'm trying to listen to any audio (mostly music) and downloading at the same time...the audio becomes very CHOPPY. Even if I'm only downloading at 50kb/s. It's choppy. Also on YouTube. If I want to play a clip before the whole .flv file is loaded, the audio is choppy and 'crackly'. Once the clip is loaded entirely, the audio is perfectly clear and smooth. This is probably an unrelated issue, but it's only become an issue in the last few weeks...

Edited by Danny2007, 25 February 2009 - 12:59 PM.

[Abydos]

Hi Danny

Lets have the HJT log resolved first, then we have a go at it.

I have informed the malware forum about your post, and
hopefully they will respond soon. It is nothing serious, so
it will be real quick. It is most likely LDTate that will respond
to your post.

Regards

Edited by Abydos, 25 February 2009 - 02:16 PM.

[LDTate]