Win. Int. Explorer error while visiting (Fs) sites

[Hansonius]

I am aware that my question is not only a Fs problem but the result is that I cannot visit several Fs sites.
The problem:
As soon as I start Win. Internet Explorer I get the message: "Ready with errors on the page" the next steps is opening on of my favorite FS sites. So far so good.

But if I try to connect/link through to a second site via the original (Fs) site I sometimes get the message "cannot produce the webpage, possible connectionproblem".

But there is no connectionproblem, checked that several times.
To make things worse the problem doesn't occur on my laptop!! As far as I can see the settings for I.E are the same.

My most recent example is with Google earth. Going tot the side no problem, clicking to the downloadpage no problem, but clicking the download button on the site : no result and the "cannot produce ... message. One more remark: if I choose a sponsored site while Googling: no way and the"cannot produce..message"

Any suggestions how to solve this problem ?

Hans
the Netherlands

[xxmikexx]

My wild guess is that it's a virus. Do you have a virus checker installed? If not try the free version of AVG, available here ...

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/crp/0

There is also a possibility that it's a spyware or malware problem of some kind. The freeware program SpyBot is good for catching this kind of thing. It is available here ...

http://spywarebot.com/?hop=advanced99&p=3&gid=1072645447&gclid=ckza09kgqjecfq2nggodqkfreq

With both of these or other such programs, be sure to update their databases so they will be able to deal with the latest known threats. In the case of SpyBot, additionally run the "immunize" option before running the main problem check.


If anti-virus/anti-spyware software doesn't help, you may need to zero your hard drive and reinstall all the applications.

[Biohazard]

Intenet Explorer? Yuck! I use Firefox, have you tried that? Every system should have Firefox today!

[xxmikexx]

I use both Firefox and Internet Explorer. There are many web sites that will display correctly under one browser but not under the other.

Still, you have a point. All other things being equal, Firefox has many fewer security "holes" than does Internet Explorer.

However ... Internet Explorer has a crucial feature -- the ability to use it as a seamless tool for moving data back and forth between local hard drives and remote ftp sites. No special ftp client required, because it's built into IE.

[Hansonius]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I am quite sure it isn't a virus or spy/malware problem, using AVG and Spybot already for quite a while.
The thing that really puzzles me is that I get this error on my Fs- and my business pc but not on my laptop. And as I said I checked all the settings, they are the same. There is one difference, the laptop is using diffrent Java software parts then the other two pc's.
It keeps puzzling and annoying me !
I might give Firefox a try as well.

Hans

[xxmikexx]

Hi Hans,

Are you saying that you get identical pathological behavior on two out of three computers?

[jwenting]

sure sounds like some malware corrupted his IE installation. Some of it is getting quite good at hiding itself from cheap, low budget AV software like AVG.

[xxmikexx]

jwenting,

You stuck the knife into me and twisted it :), but I've seen Free AVG find stuff that neither McAffee nor Symantec did. I guess the answer is that if we want to be really paranoid then we need several tools in each category.

At any rate, do you agree that if a reasonable suite of tools can't find the problem it would be time for a system rebuild from a zeroed hard drive?

[jwenting]

from a new harddisk just to make sure ;)

And I wouldn't hold my breath when AVG finds something that McAfee doesn't (not talking about Norton here, that's known vapourware). It might very well be a false positive, as in addition to missing more AVG also gives more of those.

[xxmikexx]

I have in fact seen AVG false positives.

Look. You 'Da Man, what do you recommend for anti spyware and anti virus tools?

[jwenting]

for AV, I use Kaspersky.
Will also detect pretty much every other nasty trying to infest your machine.

To prevent spyware, common sense is often enough. Don't install software from sources you don't explicitly trust, and don't visit websites that are "shady" or worse.

Kaspersky will detect websites trying to run trojans and other nasties.

[SPOFF]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I am quite sure it isn't a virus or spy/malware problem, using AVG and Spybot already for quite a while.
The thing that really puzzles me is that I get this error on my Fs- and my business pc but not on my laptop. And as I said I checked all the settings, they are the same. There is one difference, the laptop is using diffrent Java software parts then the other two pc's.
It keeps puzzling and annoying me !
I might give Firefox a try as well.

Hans

Have you recently "Upgraded" to IE7? I did that a year ago and it took me 6 weeks to figure it out. (Many BSODs) I went back to IE6. Just Un-Install IE7 from Add/Remove and you will be back to IE6. Nothing further to do because IE6 is UNDER IE7. Look for updates to IE6, and you are good to go. SPOFF

[jwenting]

foolish. IE7 is NOT the cause of the problems, and certainly wasn't the cause of yours.
It's a stable product, don't blame someone else for something you did wrong (like installing a spyware toolbar).

[xxmikexx]

jwenting,

I downloaded the Kaspersky 7.0 demo, updated its database and then did a side by side comparison with AVG and SpyBot. Here are the results ...

AVG found no viruses on my system. Neither did Kaspersky. SpyBot found roughly 30 tracking cookies on my system. Kaspersky found zero of them. Therefore I have deinstalled Kaspersky and returned to AVG/SpyBot.

By the way, the offending tracking cookies arose as a result of visiting only the usual FS-related websites, sometimes clicking on links embedded in posts. So being good is no longer enough. One has to be proactive in seekout out and destroying this stuff.

[Hansonius]

Hi Hans,

Are you saying that you get identical pathological behavior on two out of three computers?

Yes Mike, two pc's have the same problem and my notebook hasn't.
All the settings for I.E. are the same on all three for one exception my notebook seems to have some different kind of Java software for I.E.

Quite a discussion going on about the quality of AVG and so on!
I am still using on 2 pc's NORMAN AV(paid version) and I use AVG on number three. So both pc's have the same error message in IE while using different AV software.
I also use Spybot for quite a while and Ad-Aware, so what else can you do?

I un-installed IE and went back to IE 6, same error! I reinstalled I.E. 7, same error.
IT drives me a kind of mad not being able to find out what is causing this annoying error.
But maybe someone has a bright idea?!

Hans

[xxmikexx]

When IE (either version) was reinstalled, can you tell whether it was remembering the settings of various options across installations?

[xxmikexx]

Update re Kaspersky 7.0 ...

It appears that Kaspersky found and fixed some of the cookies without announcing that it had done so. (Maybe I didn't have options set correctly.)

At any rate, just for grins I reran SpyBot and found that Kaspersky had reduced the count of tracking cookes from roughly thirty to roughly fifteen.

[Hansonius]

When IE (either version) was reinstalled, can you tell whether it was remembering the settings of various options across installations?

Mike,
I did that reinstall a couple of weeks ago and I didn't check if the settings where the same after a reinstall. But I get your point, if with a reinstall the "old"settings are copied/remembered and the error is there to be found then also the error is copied.

So, I will install Firefox and see what is happening with a different browser and after that I think I'lll have to live with that error as I did for months.

Thanks so far,

Hans

[xxmikexx]

Let the readers know what the outcome is, okay?

[angels355]

Sometimes weird behavior can be caused by a hdd going bad, just one of many things to check. Get the hdd mfr's diagnostic tool and check your hdd.

What are your computer specifications, and what version of windows do you use, and how do you connect to the internet?

How long has it been since you reinstalled windows? IE might be corrupt, could be time to reinstall windows from scratch.

I hope you don't use Norton--blah! What anti-virus do you use?

Do you use Ad-Aware SE or 2007? Or Spybot 1.5?

I second the suggestion to use Fire Fox 2, it works for 98 through vista, it is way better than IE6, however I use both. Are you using IE7?