Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Browser Trouble

By Cate Eales
Appeared January 15, 2009 on castanet.net

Your internet browser is the program that allows you to view web pages. Unless someone printed this column out for you and you're reading it on a piece of paper or someone is reading it to you, you are using a web browser right now. Two popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox. Most of the time we take them for granted, but sometimes things go wrong.
 

Internet Explorer quits working
I often hear from readers that everything is working fine one minute, and the next minute they get an error message from Internet Explorer, followed by IE shutdown.

There are several likely causes for that. Here's what to do:

If you always get this error on a certain website, it could be a poorly coded website --- the owner of the website would have to fix that. Notify the website owner. If you get this error all over the place, that's a different story; keep reading.

It could be an outdated version of Flash or Java causing the problem. To find out if your versions are up to date, visit The Online scanner at Secunia, here and allow it to scan. Be guided by the results and update anything identified by the scanner. Stick with the Online scanner; don't bother downloading the "Personal" scanner.

It could be a poorly coded or otherwise incompatible add-on in Internet Explorer. If you know what you're doing, try disabling all the add-ons and re-enabling them one by one until you find the one that crashes IE. Disable that one, and continue as normal.

Open IE | Tools | Manage Add-ons | Enable or Disable Add-ons...

If you aren't comfortable with that, you can simply reset Internet Explorer to the way it was when it was first installed. You will lose some settings, and most Add-ons will be disabled (which is what you're actually trying to do!). You shouldn't lose your Favourites. If you can, visit this page for a more complete list of what gets reset and what is left alone. Here are the steps to reset:

If you would like to try a (free) alternative to Internet Explorer, I use and highly recommend Firefox. You can download it here. You can try it out without making it the default browser, in case you don't like it and want to go back to IE. It will prompt you during installation --- just say you don't want it to be the default browser. Later, you can change your mind.


Back up your Interenet Explorer settings (Firefox, too!)
If you want to transfer your Favorites, passwords, settings, and so on from Internet Explorer on your computer to another computer --- or even if you just want to back that information up "just in case" you can do that easily. The hard part is remembering to do it before you get into trouble and have to reset everything!

Internet Explorer 7 provides you with a wizard that will export your Favorites, cookies, and feeds. You can then import them into Internet Explorer on another computer, or on your computer if you have to restore them. Simply click on File, then on Import and Export, and follow the prompts.

click to enlarge photo

A more sophisticated approach is to use a program called Internet Explorer Backup, which does exactly what it says. You can back up more than just cookies and Favorites, and you can schedule a backup so that it's all done automagically. Internet Explorer Backup is free, and available here.

Firefox users like a program called MozBackup, and/or a pair of add-ons, called FEBE and CLEO.


Do you need help with your computer?  With your printer/camera/music player? Do you have a new computer and now you're wondering how to get the files from the old one over to the new one I'm here to help you and your computer get along! To ask a question, make a comment or suggestion, or schedule a visit, email cate@rlis.com. You can read previous columns here.  If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email, please visit this link.  It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the RSS Feed, click here.

Links
Secunia Online Inspector http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/
Reset Internet Explorer Settings http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/help/81fe3b46-2460-459e-b826-8f134a7fe1771033.mspx
Download Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Internet Explorer Backup http://www.backsettings.com/internet-explorer-backup.html
MozBackup http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/05/20/backup-your-firefox-flock-or-thunderbird-profiles-with-mozback/
FEBE http://customsoftwareconsult.com/extensions/febe/febe.html
CLEO http://customsoftwareconsult.com/extensions/cleo/cleo.html
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
RSS Feed: http://rlis.com/rlis.xml

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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.

© Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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