Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Technical Help and How To's Issues in... Vista! Surprised?

My friend is having problems with getting an internet browser to work in Vista. Her internet connection is fine, since I just spent a few hours trying to do some impromptu tech support through Windows Messenger, but alas, I failed (also, when I say tech support, I mean I mostly relied on Google for answers).

Internet Explorer hasn't worked on her computer for a while. I'm fairly certain it's IE7 and I have no idea why it stopped. She wasn't particularly bothered by it until tonight, because she usually uses Firefox.

Which leads to this: she upgraded to Firefox 3, still, apparently, in its beta stages, and that crashed with an error possibly involving 'HALO' - though when I google that, I only get hits about Halo, the game. I suggested she uninstall Firefox 3 and sent her an executable file of Firefox 2. After re-installation, Firefox wouldn't start up at all, despite seemingly making an effort (the cursor turned into an hourglass).

In the end, I downloaded Safari for Windows and sent her that .exe file too, in case Firefox and IE were lost causes for tonight. She installed it, and it was starting to look like it would work, but then wouldn't load any pages (saying it couldn't connect to the server).

Any idea about what's going on and possible solutions?

Related question: I use Windows XP, so is it possible that I could only download specifically XP-compatible .exe files, thereby making an even bigger mess by having her install them? I didn't think that could happen, but it's worth asking.

Julie

Vista can really be a pain. I know from experience. :rolleyes: I don't think it's a compatibility problem, since IE already wasn't working. Has she tried to restore the system? Maybe some essential file has been damaged and could be restored. If it doesn't work, my only solution has been to reinstall Vista. I've got to do it three times since last year.

Is she connected directly (wired) or through wireless? I've seen some links talking about problems with wireless connections. I'll see if I can find them again (found them at work earlier ).

EDIT: Can she run Internet Explorer with no add-ons (link should be located on the Start menu, System tools)?

EDIT 2:
Another suggestion: could you (or her) describe in more detail what happens when trying to use IE or Firefox or ...? Post error messages, weird behavior (such as not opening), etc. Maybe then it might be easier to understand the problem she's having.

malu

OK, take a look at this page and see if anything helps. The last entry of that page is interesting: is she running Norton?

malu

She's connected directly, not through wireless.

I'm not sure about the add-ons, but here's what she told me today - when she installed Firefox, originally, a message popped up asking if it's okay to disable IE since she's be using another browser, and she clicked 'yes'. :rolleyes:

The basic behaviour is that Firefox is refusing to open at all, and IE and Safari are just not loading pages.

She reinstalled Vista last night, and that didn't solve the problem either, which makes me think this is bad.

Thank you for that link! I will ask her about it.

Julie

I think there is a simple way of "reactivating" IE. Was she able to do it already, or is she using as a "second" browser?

When you say "not loading pages", do you mean it shows an error in the browser (those types that say "cannot load page" or something similar)? Ask her specifically what happens (the exact message she gets, if any, or just a blank page).

I'll see what I can find and post here.

malu

OK, found something that *might* enable Internet Explorer again (and make it the default browser). The instructions don't say if it's for XP or Vista (it's what I can see in XP). I'm assuming it is the same. If not, you (or her) would need to find the equivalent.

In the Control Panel, go to the "Add/Remove Programs". Click on "Set Program Access and Defaults". That's where you can choose what are the default programs for each category and what you are able to access. Maybe this helps in "reactivating" IE?

UPDATE: OK, ignore the above path. Follow what this page says.

malu

Thanks for the link and for the help!!!

I just spoke to her, and she's despaired of her computer, so she's just going to reformat it.

She's also the most stubborn person on the planet and still doesn't believe me that XP pwns Vista and that Vista has, so far, endless glitches. *sigh*

Julie

I hear you there with Vista problems. And I think the only answer they give is reinstall.

Vista... I have heard of so many problems with it. I'm still working with Windows XP and will continue to do so as long as possible. Anyway, this is a little off topic, but I've been looking to buy a laptop. Are there any alternatives to getting Vista as the operating system other than buying a Mac?

Well... there's linux. There are many many different versions (red hat, suse, ubuntu and it's many variants). It does not run windows programs by default, but you can run them in Wine. There are also a lot of open-source programs that are comparable and in some ways better than their commercial versions. There are different distributions (distros) that will work for each user level.

But other than that? Not really. Windows is the big operating system, followed (sadly) distantly by Mac, then linux.

New XP computers may still be available. Mine (a Dell laptop) was brand new in August 2007, when Vista was already out.

Julie (also an XP fan)

Dell offer the choice of XP, Vista, or Linux on new PCs.

Thanks, guys. I didn't think anyone was still offering XP.

You have to ask for it, they don't tell you!

When I got my new laptop last Oct. I wish I would have gotten XP instead of Vista. I had XP on my two dell computers and I was just used to XP it was the only OS I have ever used Vista has some improvements on XP but overall it's harder to use and if I wouldn't have brought a book for Vista I would have been lost with the whole Documents and how save a notepad.