My Internet Explorer is driving me NUTS!

[ptOntario]

Are there any IE experts out there? We've been having problems for a while, can't seem to fix it, no matter what we try. It won't open from the desktop unless I right click and click Open or Explore, then it's really slow. Once in, I can browse around through stuff, for example, these forums, but if I try to open a link in any of the posts, I get the hand, but link won't open. Eventually, the hand goes away, the arrow comes back and I can't get into the link.

Don't suggest Netscape cuz it's screwed up too. When I try to scroll right or left in Netscape, the screen goes crazy and the lines and letters duplicate themselves over and over again.

Have tried the WinDoctor and DiscDoctor in Norton Utilities. No fix there. Have tried downloading upgrades to IE from the MS site. No luck. Next step is to put my foot through the monitor, but thought I might check with you guys first! Anybody have any ideas? Thanks!

Jackie

[Bullwinkle]

How much memory do you have? I mean, how much does your PC have? Do your other applications have similar problems?

[QuicksilverDon]

Hit Control, Alt, & Delete together - task manager should come up - how much other stuff do you have running? - my kids always have Morpheus (music program) running, and it slows things up. I select it & end task to "kill" it.

[ptOntario]

Bullwinkle, the 'puter has 160 MB RAM, and a 4GB hard drive, about half full. None of the other programs or applications seem to have any problems.

Jackie

[ptOntario]

QSD, I checked to see what's running...there is a fairly long list of items in there, but I can't decipher what much of it means. I'm sure there must be stuff that you don't close.....Explorer, Norton, etc.? My kids use Grokster alot, but I don't see anything in the list that resembles it.

Jackie

[PT_Sean]

hate to sound like tech support, but have you RE-INSTALLED IE, or upgraded to 5.05 (I think...) ??

I use IE effortlessly. You can bring the PC this Sat and Mike and I can take a hack at it!

[PT_Hot_Rod]

This may be a stupid question but being a computer troubleshooter I have to ask. When was the last time the computer was restarted? Have you installed anything new lately? If so, what?

Try clearing your cache and offline content. go to Tools, Internet Options, in the temporary internet files section click Delete Files. (this won't hurt anything)

[ptOntario]

[quote]PT_Sean (17 Dec, 2001 08:20 p.m.):
hate to sound like tech support, but have you RE-INSTALLED IE, or upgraded to 5.05 (I think...) ??

Yes to both - tried re-installing, and also did the upgrade. .

Thanks for offering your (and Mike's) services, but not gonna do it! I don't want you guys stuck looking at this dumb thing all night when there is partying to be done!

Jackie

[UT_CRUZZZ]

[unorder][#]You could try repairing Internet Explorer. I have had some success doing this.[#]You might try the Internet Browser Opera. It is similar to Internet Explorer (read - most likely backward engineered) but with minimal overhead. If you have similar trouble using Opera, then you have eliminated Internet Explorer as your problem. If Opera works alright, then you probably need to uninstall IE completely and start fresh.[#]Check which version of IE you are using. Stay away from IE 6.0 if you are having trouble. Reinstall either IE 5.0 or IE 5.5. Both are available for download from Microsoft's Product Updates web site.[/unorder]

ptOntario (17 Dec, 2001 07:53 p.m.):
QSD, I checked to see what's running...there is a fairly long list of items in there, but I can't decipher what much of it means. I'm sure there must be stuff that you don't close.....Explorer, Norton, etc.? My kids use Grokster alot, but I don't see anything in the list that resembles it.

Jackie

One thing you might try, Jackie, is to right click on the My Computer icon (Win98/ME) on your desktop, scroll down to the bottom of the dialog box to Properties and left click on that, then select the Performance tab at the top of the dialog box that results. If System Resources in the Performance stastus window shows less than 40 - 50% free, it's a strong indicator you need to shut down whatever programs are running in the background eating up resources you need to run Explorer.