IE8 problems

[tomyrush]

I have not been able to use IE for several months now and I decided to get a fresh start (I normally run FireFox). Firefox and Chrome have no problems starting.

The symptom is that IE starts and I get a message saying connecting - nothing else ever happens.

The download and installation of IE8 seemed to be normal but same old story. A Microsoft message said that I probably had a malware tool stopping it. I never get any error messages - it just says "Connecting" I looked at Properties and both Firefox and Chrome start in their respective Program Files folders pointing to their executable. IE starts in "%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%"
this may do the same thing, but I forgot everything I ever knew about %... years ago.

I am wondering if there is a setting somewhere messed up, but I don't know where to look.

I really do not think any of my malware stuff has anything to do with it

This is not a pressing problem because FireFox does everything I need, it's just that every once in a while in the past, I had to be running IE to apply updates, that hasn't happened in a while.

Thanks in advance
Tom

[JoeP]

What operating system? Is it up-to-date with patches?

Have you tried downloading IE8 with FF and then installing it?

Joe

[HansV]

What happens if you start Internet Explorer without add-ins? There should be a shortcut for this in Start | (All) Programs | Accessories | System Tools.

Which antivirus/antimalware programs do you use?

[StuartR]

Does IE8 have a proxy server configured?
To check you should look at Tools > Internet Options... > Connections and click on the LAN Settings button

[tomyrush]

I downloaded a new copy of IE8 yesterday and installed it.

IE8 pops up with it's outermost window - I get a message asking if I should restart last session or start a new session - I have tried both with same results.

There are not any options at the top of the screen - no tools, no file,
nothing

run Zone Alarm, MS security essentials, and spybot - seems like there is another one, but I will have to check after sending this.

[tomyrush]

I also have a free copy of Malware bytes - which has to be run manually - only the pay version runs on a schedule

[HansV]

Have you tried to start Internet Explorer without add-ins?

[tomyrush]

Ihaven't gotten to the point where I could add any add ins

[StuartR]

...There are not any options at the top of the screen - no tools, no file, nothing...

Do any menus appear if you press the ALT key?

[tomyrush]

I went over to a friends house and tried their box

They have an icon on the desktop - when you click properties you get a box with 7 or 8 tabs

I used their system and with their IE drop down said send a shortcut to the desktop. The new icon's properties only has 3 tabs - this matches the only icon I have on my box I don't have an icon wirh all of the tabs

Sounds like my installarion didn't finish

Tom

[JoeP]

I don't believe that the difference in shortcuts means anything about your installation. The shortcut on your firend's system is a special shortcut that can be created when a program is installed. When you created the new shortcut it is a regular shortcut that we are all used to.

You should be able to go to Control Pane | Internet Options and get the same as your friend.

Joe

[Carol W.]

Have you tried resetting all the IE8 default settings? I've seen this solve this kind of issue.

To reset the IE8 default settings:

- Open Control Panel by clicking Start | Settings | Control Panel
- Double click Internet Options
- Click the Advanced tab
- Click the Reset button at the bottom. It should say "You should only use this if your browser is in an unusable state" below the button.
- Reboot the machine

Does this help?

[tomyrush]

I finally got IE8 working. I tried all of the groups suggestions
Not sure how I got this done, but going thru the ctl panel and wound up reinstalling the MSN network. After that I followed Carol W's resetting IE8 default setting I used the reset button on the adv tab

Thanks to everyone - not sure how things got screwed up in the first place.

Tom

[HansV]

Glad it's resolved! Thanks for posting back.