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Question

Internet Explorer Upgrade / Repair

Jun 4, 2012 3:06AM PDT

Hi guys, I am running XP SP3, and Internet Explorer ver 8.0.6.

It takes ages to access some web sites on my desktop, laptop is fine.

So I thought maybe I could do an upgrade, repair or reload.

How would I do that?

Thanks

Colin

Discussion is locked

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Answer
IE upgrade or repair
Jun 4, 2012 6:44PM PDT

With XP IE8 is the highest version available, so an upgrade is not an option sadly.

There is no repair option either in IE. I assume that is what you mean, and not a repair or ugrade of the XP OS itself.

However all is not lost and with IE in particular many of the problems like slow loading web pages can be traced back to bad or corrupted IE Add-ons.

There is a good test for this. IE has it's own 'safe mode' where you can open it with Add-ons disabled. Go to Start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools then find and click the "Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)" shortcut.

This will open IE with all add-ons and 3rd party toolbars disabled.

Try that and try loading your normal web pages and others. The web sites may not render or display properly because this is IE's safe mode, but as a test for speed of loading it is a good test.

If that works then you know it is an add-on or a toolbar that is slowing things down and your next step is to eliminate which one(s) is/are causing the problem.

I hope that helps.

Mark

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Hello Mark
Jun 4, 2012 11:10PM PDT

Thanks for that information. There are quite a few add ons in various sub sections. Can I list the sub sections for your comments? By disabling the add ons, the sites I was having problems with are now OK.

Logitech (cordless mouse?)

CDVROCX

Trend Micro Active X Agent 6.6

Hewlett Packard (Printers)

Microsoft ( all sorts of things!)

Sun (Java)

Adobe (Shockwave)

Apple (Quicktime)

DivX, LLC

Adobe (PDF reader)

Realnetworks (Realplayer)

Do I need all this stuff Mark, and are any of the above known for causing a problem.

Regards

Colin

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Can I just confirm?
Jun 5, 2012 9:35PM PDT

Can I just confirm that the list you provided are Internet Explorer Add-ons from IE > Tools > Manage Add-ons?

It's just that a couple seen a bit strange in particular "Logitech (cordless mouse)".

If so, let's go through them;

Logitech (cordless mouse?)

What does this do? A browser is just a browser and any mouse will just work like it works for any other application. If you disable this, what will happen?

CDVROCX

What is this and what does it do? I searched Google for CDVROCX and didn't see much, but Google asked me if I meant DVROCX. Is that a typo?

Are you having problems watching videos online?

Trend Micro Active X Agent 6.6

Another strange one. A Google search for Trend Micro Active X Agent 6.6 only seems to bring up Trend Micro's HJT, or HiJackThis which is a utility for scanning a system when searching for malware. Have you used HJT recently or at all?

Disable that.

Hewlett Packard (Printers)

What is this and why is it an add-on in your browser? Do you do a lot of web page printing?

Microsoft ( all sorts of things!)

Difficult to diagnose "all sorts of things" Happy

Sun (Java)

Java is required on some web sites to play some games or for other small, 'applets', but it can safely be disabled and if needed the web site will tell you.

Adobe (Shockwave)

Needed, especially if you watch online videos, (like YouTube etc), and play Flash games.

Apple (Quicktime)

Not needed.

DivX, LLC

Not needed, but you may need media player plugins to watch videos other than Flash, or to listen to music, so Apple Quicktime and DivX may be need at some time or other.

Adobe (PDF reader).

Do you read PDF files online? If not, then not required.

Realnetworks (Realplayer)

I have to be cautious of my response here. Well, perhaps not! Devil I absolutely recommend you remove all traces of RealPlayer from your computer. It will be difficult as it is an insidious piece of software and plants itself all over the system. But that is why, it tries to take over everything and every component has updates and downloads and other things that means it is always on the go and sucking up resources.

Disable this plugin.

You didn't say if that test, the IE in Safe Mode made things any better. Did it?

Mark

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Hi Mark
Jun 6, 2012 6:59AM PDT

Thanks for your detailed response.
Yes they are from the 'Manage addons'

Logitech I have disabled.

CDVROCX I have disabled

Trend Micro all disabled

HP no I do not do any web page printing!

Sun I dont do games!

DivX disabled

Adobe no I dont read PDF online, I download

Realnetworks disabled

When I do the first disabling, 1 particular site I had a problem with, was then OK. I am now about to do some more disabling.

I will put up a seperate list of the add ons in Microsoft.

Thanks again

Colin

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Microsoft Add Ons
Jun 6, 2012 7:05AM PDT

Mark these are the Microsoft add ons

XSL Template 3.0
XML HTTP 3.0
Free Threaded XML DOM Document 3.0
XML DOM Document 3.0
Microsoft Silverlight
RDS Dataspace
XML HTTP 6.0
XSL Template 6.0
Free threaded XML DOM Document 6.0
XML DOM document 6.0
XML HTTP 4.0
Free threaded XML DOM Document 4.0
XML DOM Document 4.0
Windows Media PLayer
XML DOM Document
Windows Media Player (Again!)
Information CARDSIGNINHELPER Class
MUWebControl Class
Windows Live Safety Centre Base Module

So there we go............

Colin

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Generally
Jun 6, 2012 9:53PM PDT

Generally I would leave Microsoft add-ons. They are trusted any way, but trying to work out what they do is difficult sometimes.

So, any better performance so far?

Mark

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Yes
Jun 7, 2012 4:04AM PDT

thanks Mark, the pages seem to be loading up much quicker, and at this time I have not found a problem with things not working!!

Colin

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That's good
Jun 7, 2012 5:24AM PDT

and I hope performance remains better.

Mark

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xp vs windows-7
Jun 6, 2012 11:09PM PDT

In windows-7 IE 8 in build all ready so there is no requirement to install additionally IE but in Windows XP it is to be
needed . The newer version of IE add extra tool and more facilities.