IE is acting screwy on some web pages

by bowneline Sep 14, 2006 3:39AM PDT

My Dell Dimension 3100 runs Windows XP Professional and has worked perfectly fine for nearly a year.

I am, however, now having problems with the Internet Explorer on my computer. Unfortuantly, I have been unable to figure out which edition of IE I am using. The computer was purchased in December 2005, if that helps.

Yesterday, I started up the computer and it worked fine all morning. Then, I rebooted it and, before it shut down, XP did some updates (I am not sure if that is related to my troubles). Then, when the computer came back on, it still worked fine.

However, shortly thereafter, IE froze up on me. Then, when I was finally was able to close out the window I was working on, and start up a new IE window, things started acting strange.

Now, most webpages show two negative characterisitcs:

1. the pages don't quite fit together like they should. the side-bar of a website might be lower then the rest of the page, or, on gmail or hotmail, the proportions are all out-of-whack, so that certain parts of the page seem squished together while others are much larger/wider than they once were. In that past, this has happend on a very short-term basis. Sometimes, I would load up hotmail and it would be screwy, but simply reloading the page would help. But, now it won't go away, after re-booting several times.

2. the fonts have changed. the fonts on many of the websites seem much larger than they once were, including CNET, and gmail etc.... This is not that annoying, execpt that i am on gmail all day due to work and the "new" font kinda bothers my eyes.

Any ideas????

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME!!!

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -

Your not the only one

by islandporgy Sep 14, 2006 9:56AM PDT

I went to windows update a couple off days ago and updated my computer. They had a couple off updates available and I updated all off them and I am wondering if one off those updates could have cause what is going on now. I am running IE 6 with service pack 2.

Wendell H

- Collapse -

Updates and a haphazard guess.

by Cursorcowboy Sep 14, 2006 11:23PM PDT

Unless someone who suspected that an update caused such a problem, then had determined it was a fact, knew which once causes this type anomaly and happened upon your post where you outlined and listed the updates installed, they could then probably give some guidance. However, without knowing the details from your system, nobody could hazard a guess.

Perhaps, and I say perhaps, that you might consider uninstalling the latest updates to see if the anomaly is corrected -- they could be subsequently reinstalled should you desire.

1. Please read through the information in the article, "WINUP-Third-Party Products That Conflict with Windows Update (Q241234)" and perhaps use some of the information for troubleshooting.

2. Service packs and hotfixes contain an Uninstall (Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel - click Q###### , click Change/Remove and then follow the instructions that appear or by running the Uninstall program from the command prompt - click Start, Run, type cmd, and then press Enter. Change to the folder C:\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\, where C: is the root of your hard drive, type Spuninst.exe, and then press Enter), which is a feature used to restore a computer to its previous state.

Note: When running the ServicePack.exe program to install, a subfolder named $ntservicepackuninstall$ is created in the systemroot folder, which is subsequently also used by Windows File Protection (WFP) to replace damaged or changed protected system files. The Hotfix naming convention followed by the extension .exe include the variables:

? Q###### - the Microsoft Knowledge Base article number (for example, 123456)

? XXX is the platform or operating system

? YYY is the service pack level

? ZZZ is the hardware platform

? LL is the language

3. Search using the Find function to locate Spuninst.exe utility that supports the following switches:

? /? Show the list of installation switches

? /u Use Unattended mode

? /f Force other programs to quit when the computer shuts down

? /z Do not restart when the installation is complete

? /q Use Quiet mode (no user interaction)

4. For example, to remove a patch in Unattended mode without restarting the system, use the following command:

%windir%\$ntuninstallQ??????$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /u /z

5. The article [Q329260] explains there are three folders created when SP1 is installed and the archive files that contain temporary and archived files used to remove it and the folders that can safely be deleted. This article warns that if the Windows\Servicepackfiles folder is moved or deleted, SP1 cannot be removed in the future.

6. The article [Q296861] describes how to install multiple Windows product updates (for example, critical updates, security patches, or hotfixes) that use Update.exe with only one restart. This procedure does not work however for product updates that do not use Update.exe as the installation program. For example, Internet Explorer updates for Windows XP use an INF-based installation instead of Update.exe. As a result, you cannot use this procedure to install multiple Microsoft Internet Explorer updates with only one restart on Windows XP.

7. Supplemental reading:

a. "Chapter 5: Installing, Uninstalling, and Managing Programs."

b. "How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer (Q875350)."

- Collapse -

Browser Not working well

by islandporgy Sep 17, 2006 12:51PM PDT

When I trouble shoot I took a guess until I find out what caused the problem.
I trouble shooted, I uninstalled updates and softeware, I guess what ever I did it solved the problem.
It could have been a number off issues (Software) or (Updates) I guess.

1) I uninstalled the lattest Updates.

2) I uninstalled Macromedia player Software.

3) I pulled up Real Player and I installed the Macromedia Player they suggested.

4) My Browser is working well and I am able to play videos that or on certain sites.

Thank You for your info
Wendell H

- Collapse -

It may be an update problem,

by MarkFlax Forum moderator Sep 14, 2006 8:14PM PDT

but before looking at which update to uninstall, see if changing IE's fonts will cure the problem.

In IE goto Tools > Internet Options, and under the General tab click the Fonts button.

Make sure the "Language script" selected is Latin based.

I use "Times New Roman" as web page font, and "Courier New" as the Plain text font.

Then in your web page, goto View > Text size, and experiment with different text sizes.

See if that helps

Mark

- Collapse -

Which Updates

by islandporgy Sep 17, 2006 1:10PM PDT

I need to reinstall the updates that I uninstalled, which is the latest ones I got.
My Browser is working well now and not jittery or not able to watch videos.

Help
Thank You very much:

Wendell H

- Collapse -

The only way to do it,

by MarkFlax Forum moderator Sep 17, 2006 8:33PM PDT

Is to download and install updates manually, and one at a time.

If you come across the one that causes this problem again, then you uninstall that one, and set it to be hidden in your Windows Update preferences.

Difficult, especially if there are a lot of updates waiting for you, but that's the only way I can think of doing it.

Good luck.

Mark

- Collapse -

Could be...

by robnan Sep 26, 2006 7:00PM PDT

...The Updates, some spyware, or simply the HTML browsing engine of MSIE that is, somewhat primitive. Virus Scan, Spyware Scan and try a different browser. I left IE in the trash months ago for Firefox.

- Collapse -

FireFox

by islandporgy Sep 29, 2006 1:07PM PDT

I was thinking about FireFox, but I will stick with IE a little longer.
I do run Virus Scans every day and Ad-Aware A couple times a day, Windows Defender, Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, I am on A computer most off the day.
It could have been a # off issues, I resolved the issue but I do not know what the problem was.

Thank YOu Very Much:
Wendell H

IE is acting screwy on some web pages

CNET Forums

Other Forums

Forum Info