Troubleshooting Internet Explorer 7.0 Issues

Introduction:

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is light years ahead of its predecessors, but by no means does that proclamation mean that the browser is perfect. You are still going to encounter issues with IE from time to time.

Here are some of the concise guides that deliver some troubleshooting steps that will clear up the majority of issues we encountered with IE7.

Issues with Internet Explorer 7.0 with solutions

Problem: Crashes or hangs

If IE crashes, the most likely problem is that there's a buggy add-on (Toolbar or Browser Helper Object). In order to verify and isolate the buggy add-on, follow these steps:

1. Start IE in No Add-ons mode, either by right-clicking the Desktop icon, or clicking START - RUN and typing: iexplore.exe

-extoff

2. Determine if IE fails.

3. If not, use Tools - Manage Add-ons to disable all browser extensions and toolbars.

4. Restart IE and re-enable browser extensions one-by-one.

5. Once you've found a broken extension, contact the manufacturer and ask for an update.

(Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=928426)

If IE still crashes often, even when browser add-ons are disabled:

• Please ensure that you are running the very latest version of your anti-virus, anti-malware, and/or firewall programs.

• Please ensure that the drivers for your graphics card are up to date.

• If you have Google Desktop installed, please ensure that you update to the latest version of Google Desktop.

• If you have 7-Zip or other Windows Explorer extensions installed, please ensure that you update to the latest.

Problem: Cannot connect to Internet using IE after updates installed

If you see the "Page Cannot be Displayed" error after installing Internet Explorer updates from Windows Updates, it's possible that you have a 3rd party firewall installed that is blocking access because the IE files have been updated. Please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942818/en-us for more information.

Problem: IE always starts in "No Add-ons" mode

The problem is that you're launching Internet Explorer using a shortcut icon that has the "-extoff" command line parameter. That parameter causes IE to start without add-ons. Thus, every time you use that shortcut icon, IE will start in No Add-ons Mode.

1. How do you normally start Internet Explorer? Right-click whatever icon you're using to start IE, choose "Properties" and remove the -extoff part of the shortcut.

2. If you click the green START button, click Run, type iexplore.exe in the RUN box, then hit the ENTER key, IE will start with Addons enabled.

Problem: IE opens small windows

IE opens new windows at the size of the last closed window. If you find that IE is opening small windows, do this:

• Close all IE windows.
• Open one new IE window.
• Adjust that window to the size you prefer. Do this by dragging the window borders. Do not use the maximize button:
• Close the IE window.
• New IE windows will open at the size you chose.

Problem: ClearType Text appears fuzzy

IE7 turns on a text-smoothing technology called "ClearType" by default. ClearType is scientifically proven to make text easier to read, particularly on LCD flat panel monitors.

If ClearType looks fuzzy on your monitor, you might want to try the ClearType tuning wizard, which can help you adjust the display of ClearType.

If you still don't like the appearance of ClearType, you can turn it off by unchecking the checkbox: Tools - Internet Options - Advanced - Multimedia - Always use ClearType for HTML.

Problem: IE Startup takes a long time (>3 seconds)

1. IE may start very slowly if you have a huge number of sites listed in your Restricted or Trusted sites zone. Some tools, like "SpyBot Search & Destroy" will place thousands of sites in these zones if you use their "immunize" feature.

2. Follow the "Crashing on startup" steps above to see if starting in No Add-ons mode starts much faster

3. If you're not using a proxy, uncheck IE's "Automatically detect settings" option on the Tools - Internet Options - Connections - LAN Settings dialog.

Problem: Slow Page rendering

1. Increase the connection limit. This tweak allows IE to make up to 16 connections per server.

2. Ensure that both "HTTP1.1" checkboxes in Tools - Internet Options - Advanced are checked.

Problem: IE7 Setup fails to install Internet Explorer

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917925

Problem: My address bar won't turn green?

IE7 includes a cool new feature that turns the address bar green when a secure site presents an Extended Validation certificate:

If you're having trouble with this feature, on a site you know has an EV certificate:

1. Ensure that you either have the Phishing Filter set to "Automatic" mode or Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Security > Check for Server Certificate revocation checked.

2. If that doesn't work, install this: Windows Root Certificate Update and restart.

Problem: After installing, IE7 starts then vanishes

It's possible that one of IE's DLLs isn't installed correctly

1. Click START - RUN and type cmd
2. In the command prompt, type cd\
3. In the command prompt, type cd Program Files
4. In the command prompt, type cd Internet Explorer
5. In the command prompt, type regsvr32 IEPROXY.DLL

(Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=928427)

Problem: Error message about PSAPI.DLL

If you install IE7 and the following error message begins to show:

The procedure entry point GetProcessImageFileNameW could not be located in the dynamic link library PSAPI.DLL

1. Search your hard disk for PSAPI.dll.

2. Any copies of this DLL that are found outside of the Windows or Windows\System32 folder should be renamed to PSAPI.bak.

Problem: IE always goes to http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx instead of my homepage

If IE7 always goes to the RunOnce page on startup, even after you've tried to save the first run settings, it's possible that the mechanism that IE is using to save the settings does not work for some reason.

You can prevent IE from going to the RunOnce page and cause it to go directly to your homepage by running this script.

For more info, check out this Knowledge Base article.]

Problem: IE always goes to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx instead of my homepage

If Internet Explorer always goes to this page on startup, it's likely that you have an anti-spyware package (like "SpyBot") that prevented IE from correctly modifying your registry.

Try running this script. Note: you may need to disable your anti-spyware tool temporarily for the script to work.

Problem: On startup, IE always shows an error message about the AOL toolbar

If you see the following error message every time IE starts:

"Cannot find 'file:///C:/Program%20Files/AOL%20Toolbar/welcome.html'. Make sure the path or Internet address is correct."

..then you've hit a bug in the AOL Toolbar.

Try running this script. Note: you may need to disable your anti-spyware tool temporarily for the script to work.

Problem: I installed a "branded" version of IE7, but I'd prefer a "plain" copy without toolbars and customizations.

An article on this topic can be found here: How to remove branding in Internet Explorer 7.

Problem: Malware / Adware

If Internet Explorer is behaving strangely (crashing, visiting unwanted sites, etc), it's possible that there is malicious software installed on your computer.

As a first step, you should allow your antivirus software to scan and attempt to repair your computer. Additionally, you may want to try the following Microsoft tools:

• Windows Defender
• Windows Live OneCare
• Windows Live Safety Center
• Malicious Software Removal Tool

You should also ensure your computer has all the security updates available at Microsoft Update.

Problem: My searches are redirected to unrelated sites and I cannot connect to WindowsUpdate or antivirus websites

If Internet Explorer searches are redirected to unrelated sites or search engines, it's possible that your computer was infected with malware (see the previous tip). However, if your computer is not currently infected with malware, it's possible that at some time in the past, malicious software altered your computer's DNS settings. DNS works like an "internet phonebook" that maps URLs (like "windowsupdate.microsoft.com") to internet protocol addresses (like "207.46.225.221").

To determine if a malicious DNS server is configured:

- Go to Start -> Control Panel ->Network Connections.

- Right click your default connection, usually Local Area Connection or Dial-up Connection, if you are using Dial-up, and left click on Properties.

- Double-click on the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item

Check to see if you're set to something other than "Obtain DNS servers automatically". If so, contact your ISP to ensure that the address specified is correct, or set the "Obtain DNS servers automatically" checkbox. Then restart your computer.

Problem: After opening many tabs, Windows and IE paint abnormally.

See http://blogs.msdn.com/tonyschr/archive/2005/05/25/desktop-heap-limitations.aspx

Problem: A remote user is having networking problems with Internet Explorer. How can I collect information about his system to help me to troubleshoot?

Have the user run Netcheck and send you the log file.

Problem: Overlong headers result in HTTP/4xx or HTTP/5xx errors, particularly on devices like routers or webcams

Problems of this nature are usually caused by one of the two request headers in yellow being longer than the device expects.

GET / HTTP/1.1

Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/x-silverlight, application/x-silverlight-2-b2, */*

Accept-Language: en-us

User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.1.3; MS-RTC LM 8)

Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate

Connection: Keep-Alive

Host: 192.168.10.1

These headers are dynamically generated out of registry keys. They can usually be trimmed by editing the registry without any important side-effects.

To trim the list in the Accept header, click START > RUN > REGEDIT.EXE. Using RegEdit, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Accepted Documents

..and remove elements from the "Name/Type/Value" list to remove values that aren't strictly required. Elements in red are of lower importance than those in black:

image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/x-silverlight, application/x-silverlight-2-b2, */*

A similar problem can occur with the User-Agent header.

To trim the list in the User-Agent header, click START > RUN > REGEDIT.EXE. Using RegEdit, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform

..and remove elements from the "Name/Type/Value" list to remove values that aren't strictly required. Elements in red are of lower importance than those in black:

User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.1.3; MS-RTC LM 8)

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Building Back Links

The key to building a long-term successful Internet business lies with your ability to pick up back links on a consistent basis. Back links are the purest form of gold in the online world. The more back links you have, the higher you will rank in the society of search engines.

Of course back links are just one piece of the equation for a successful online business. The formula is SEO or search engine optimization. There are two parts to SEO, off site and on site optimization.

The keywords you choose to use have to be placed on your website strategically so the search engines can recognize what they are. They should be placed in your title, META tags, h1 headers, h3 headers, and maybe even in some of your "alt" image tags.

The off site portion of SEO would include the back links and what words you use to anchor those links. An anchor link is the click able portion of the words. You would use the href tag to anchor or hyper link your keywords. When you anchor link your back links using the keywords on your website, it'll give it an extra boost in the rankings.

Now the question is how do you pick up back links? There are many answers to that question.

You can pick up back links by writing and submitting articles or asking a Link building Services to do it for you. The article directories you submit your articles to will allow you to leave a back link to your website in the author’s resource box. To get the most out of article marketing you should submit unique articles to each directory. Google will usually only count the back link from the first unique article and won't count duplicates. Its too easy to do and results in spamming.

You can also pick up back links from article directories, commenting on other blogs, participating in forums, press releases, and link exchanges using Link building Services or simply can buy high PR links for your website. The best way to pick up back links is to use a comprehensive strategy, a combination of each of the above.

It's also wise to make things look as natural as possible for the search engines. Too much can hurt, and too little means a dead website.

Setting up a daily game plan for what needs to be done may be the easiest way to make sure you are consistently picking up back links. Set a goal for each day and to stick with it. Ten to twenty back links a day and spreading them out in all directions will help get your website on the move up the rankings.

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Promoting Your Website

Promoting Your Niche Websites for profits

Promotion is one of the most important aspects of marketing an Internet website. It is through promotion that websites reach the targeted audience. Promoting a website can be done in a number of ways.

The quickest and easiest way to determine whether your website will convert is setting up a quick PPC campaign using google, yahoo or msn. Be warned this can be a very expensive exercise if you don't know what you are doing. Remeber google made $805 million in the last quarter. Mmm wonder why!

Another popular methods for promoting a website is through optimizing the website to achieve high search engine rankings. Although this can take time organic searches convert better than advertised searches

Another form of promoting a website is by interspersing website links with insightful comments on industry forums. Inbound links are yet another form of niche website promotion. This form of self promotion has the added benefit of contributing to one of the other forms of promotion by resulting in higher search engine rankings. This article will examine these three methods of promoting a niche website.

Using High Search Engine Rankings to Promote a Niche Website

Optimizing a niche website for particular keywords can be one method of promoting the website. Careful optimization can result in high search engine rankings which act as a form of free publicity. Internet users rely on search engines to provide them with the most relevant content for the search terms they use. Therefore, if your website ranks well in search engines your traffic will likely increase.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is serious business which is often best left to the professionals. Many savvy Internet marketers realize the importance of search engine rankings and are willing to invest in having their websites professionally optimized. Although this is an added expense it is worthwhile especially when you are fighting for rankings and an audience in a very competitive niche.

Promoting Websites through Industry Forums

Forums or message boards are online communities where like minded individuals or those who share a common interest come together to discuss the issues related to their common interest. Participation in these forums is one way website owners can promote their own niche websites. The key to promoting a website while participating in an online forum is to include a link to your niche website in your signature. The other part of the equation is contributing worthwhile information in your posts to give other users a reason to want to click on your links.

Using Inbound Links to Promote Niche Websites

Inbound links are another method of promoting a niche website. An inbound link is a link from one website which directs visitors to another website. Inbound links can be either reciprocal or non-reciprocal in nature. A reciprocal inbound link is one where one website posts a link to another website and in return the other website posts a link back to the first website. Both types of links are looked on favorably by search engines although non-reciprocal links are often given a slight advantage.

These inbound links can be an effective component of a strategy to promote a niche website. Visitors to websites who provide a link to your website are given the opportunity to enter your website. We have already discussed how search engine rankings can be part of website promotion but inbound links essentially rely on the popularity and high search engine rankings of other websites to promote their own niche website.

In negotiating deals for inbound links, website owners should look for other websites which complement their own website and have a similar audience. For example a website selling novelty basketballs might look for websites which sell basketball hoops. Caution should also be used to avoid link farms which do not offer significantly promotional value to a niche website. A link farm is a website which offers nothing more than a list of links to other websites. While these types of links may not be harmful to a website they are also not likely to be beneficial either.

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Obesity in Women

The issue of size is of special concern particularly to women because most people believe that physical attractiveness and beauty is dependent on having a slim body that reveals the shapeliness of a woman’s body. As such, it is not common for people to think of large women as unattractive. In fact, in most societies, a big body size, obesity, and being overweight are factors that do not agree with the term beauty. After all, in as much as “slim” is considered attractive, being weighty does not conform to beauty.

What Causes Women to Become Obese?

1)Due to bodily changes. When a woman has her menstrual period, there are hormonal changes that happen to her body. These changes may cause her to react in some form to the presence of food. Moreover, because there are various unpleasant experiences that one may feel because of hormonal changes, eating sometimes becomes the only release of tension available for women. Because of this, it is not surprising to think that women who are unable to cope with menstrual problems gain weight.

2)Due to peer or social pressure. Women who live in societies where there is tension or chaos or fast-paced are always looking for some way that will help them cope with such pressure. Unfortunately, for most, the easiest and most convenient way to express disappointments and frustrations is through eating.

3)Due to genetic factors. There are some women who can quickly increase in size. This is because obesity has been found to run in certain families. Because of this, women with a family history of obesity should be all the more careful when it comes to food consumption.

Effects of Obesity in Women

1)An obese woman suffers emotionally from the condition. Most of those who have weight and obesity problems tend to have a poor assessment of themselves, thus resulting in a downgrading of their self-esteem. This is truly harmful because once a woman thinks of herself as lowly, there is usually no motivation for her to try to maintain a healthy figure.

2)Health risks are common. An overweight woman is at the mercy of cholesterol accumulation. Because of this, heart diseases are a reality.

3)Moreover, kidney and liver problems are also a threat to obese women.

4)Obese people generally have a poor ability to break down sugar. As a result, sugar accumulates in the bloodstream, which can cause diabetes. Once a person contacts diabetes, there are various complications that one may eventually suffer from.

Along with the above-listed effects of obesity and being overweight, a woman who is overweight will need to spend a lot of money for treatments. In some cases, treatment takes the form of counseling or through a review of one’s personal standards. However, if the problem is not treated through counseling, the condition may require going through medical treatments that are costly and lengthy. As a result, obesity does not only pose risks to one’s health, the condition can also be a burden on one’s emotions as well as their budget.

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Yoga: Helping You Cope with Menopause

For a woman, her monthly menstrual cycle is a testament to her womanhood. It provides affirmation of her capability to give life and bear children. However, when menopause comes, it indicates not only the cessation of a woman’s capability to support life but also an unequivocal sign of aging. To a woman, the menopause is a bittersweet stage when one can look back with satisfaction at a life well loved yet looking forward at the sign that in a few years one will have to tackle aging problems. This can be a tormenting time for any woman, and it can cause emotional torment on her.

However, despite the dreadful imaginings that are attached to menopause, there is hope available that can provide relief from the emotional and physical woes with menopause.

One of these hopes is yoga. This ancient Indian art that is aimed at achieving Holistic physical and emotional balance offers hope that the woman’s menopause period need not be that difficult. Thanks to yoga, coping with menopause can be much easier.

Understanding the Benefits of Yoga

1)Yoga is a meditative procedure. Because of this, one will be able to achieve an inner harmony that allows one’s mind to be relaxed. In turn, this leads to better blood flow and promotes deep breathing that generally benefits the body.

2)With yoga, one will be able to learn to accept the inevitable things. This is because the art teaches people to become meditative and learn to focus on things other than those that cause strain on one’s thinking.

3)By its simple presence, yoga allows people to be preoccupied with something. This allows women going through menopause to have some diversions in their thinking instead of focusing only on menopause.

4)Yoga is commonly done by groups. Because of this, a woman will be able to cultivate friendships with various individuals. This is beneficial in that this system allows a woman to expand her social base. Likewise, this will also enable her to have more friends.

Knowing the Requirements for Yoga

Yoga can be done alone or with groups. When done alone, a woman must make sure that there will be the least disturbances. A key consideration here is to avoid doing yoga in the living room or in other areas where one is likely to be disturbed. Moreover, it would be better to have it during times when people are less likely to bother each other. At daytime, doing yoga at early afternoon is a great way to avoid distraction.

One must select a part of the house where one will have a dose of fresh air. Open the window and relish in the gentle breeze. The soft wind should be relaxing to both mind and body.

In order to make yoga more comfortable, one must sit on a praying mat that is comfortable. One must avoid doing yoga in bed or in soft mattresses because movements and shifting of these bases due to application of pressure can distract a person.

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