MS-Internet Explorer Keeps Crashing

[JudyS]

OK, I have yet another question for all of the computer gurus here on TUG!

I have recently developed a problem with Microsoft Internet Explorer crashing frequently. Sometimes, it will crash every few minutes as I try to surf the web. My other computer programs don't seem to be affected, just MSIE. My operating system is Windows 2000 and the version of MSIE I am using is "6.0.2800.1106" I don't think this is a virus, as my virus protection is up-to-date.

The problem seems to have started about a week ago, shortly after Microsoft did some automatic updates to my system. I believe the updates involved the operating system, not MSIE. The crashes are much more likely when visiting sites that have a lot of graphics -- video or the ability to zoom in on photos, that sort of thing. When MSIE crashes, I get a message suggesting that I visit Microsoft's site to see if a solution to the problem is available. When I do that, most of the time, it says the cause of the problem is unknown. One time, it said Macromedia caused the problem and advised me to upgrade Macromedia, which I did. However, that didn't help.

Any suggestions? I'm interested in seeing if a newer version of MSIE is available, but all I could find on MS's site was a "Beta version" of MSIE 7. Considering how unstable even full releases of MS products are, I don't want to try a beta version.

Im willing to try a different browser, but I've tried Netscape's new version and didn't like the interface. (Just what is a tab, anyway? ) If I tried another browser, I'd want to be able to port over my bookmarks, and I'd want to be able to click on recently-visited sites in my address bar.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[DougH]

Interesting, the same thing started happening to me 3 days ago. But, I don't even get an error message. Internet Explorer just drops, and I'm back to my desktop.

I get right back into IE, and everything is fine.

I'm running on the new IE 7 Beta release.

 

[timeos2]

Try Firefox

Im willing to try a different browser, but I've tried Netscape's new version and didn't like the interface. (Just what is a tab, anyway? ) If I tried another browser, I'd want to be able to port over my bookmarks, and I'd want to be able to click on recently-visited sites in my address bar.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Go with Firefox. It will bring over all your bookmarks, etc.when you install.

Tabbed means you can have multiple sites open within one browser window. Once you try it you'll most likely love it vs opening multiple browser windows.

 

[Pit]

I've been having the same problem, which I noticed after running Windows Update.

I thought it might be a virus causing the problem, so I restored my system using a recent backup. Everything was back to normal (i.e. working fine), so I ran Windows Update again. Problem returned.

I don't have a solution yet, but I think it is definiately caused by the Windows updates, not a virus.

 

[The Conch Man]

Been usin the Browser IE 7 Beta three for awhile now ~~ haven't had any proplems ~~ :ignore:

 

[perigo449]

Fix for Problem

Computers worldwide have been experiencing Internet Explorer crashes/issues following the install the MS06-042 (KB918899) patch released last week by Microsoft. These issues are acknowledged in the following Microsoft KB article, you can obtained a hotfix for application only on computers having a problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923762/.

However, on Wednesday (8/16), Microsoft announced that they will release an updated version of the MS06-042 (KB918899) patch by Tuesday (8/22) that will correct the issues.

The following workaround did work on my PC from the above article.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, follow these steps:
1. Start Internet Explorer 6.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Advanced tab.
3. In the Settings box, click to clear the Use HTTP 1.1 check box under HTTP 1.1 settings, and then click OK.

 

[JudyS]

TUG to the rescue again! Thanks to all who replied! :whoopie:

Computers worldwide have been experiencing Internet Explorer crashes/issues following the install the MS06-042 (KB918899) patch released last week by Microsoft. These issues are acknowledged in the following Microsoft KB article, you can obtained a hotfix for application only on computers having a problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923762/.

However, on Wednesday (8/16), Microsoft announced that they will release an updated version of the MS06-042 (KB918899) patch by Tuesday (8/22) that will correct the issues.

The following workaround did work on my PC from the above article.....

Gary, I just tried the work around that you suggested. Thanks very much! Hopefully, it will fix the problem!

How did you find that article? I've gone to Microsoft's site when the problem occurs, but all I've found is a notice that if I want help from them, I'll have to pay them a fee.

I have to say, this has not increased my confidence in Microsoft. It's bad enough that one of their automatic updates causes the software it updates to keep crashing; it's worse that they don't have a good way to tell people why it's happening and what to do about it. Since they know exactly what's causing the problem, when I follow the "crash analysis" link to their site, I shouldn't get a message telling me that they don't know the reason for the problem.

Also, I see that the long-term fix to the problem, which was supposed to be released yesterday, has been indefinitely postponed. The article at the http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923762/ link now says:
On August 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that it will release a new version of security update 918899 (MS06-042) on August 22, 2006. This new version was to address this problem for customers who use Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1. Because of an issue that was discovered in final testing, Microsoft will not release the new version of security update 918899 on August 22, 2006. Microsoft will release this update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 when it meets an appropriate level of quality for broad distribution.

Even worse, this problem may compromise computer security:
Microsoft is also aware of public reports that this issue could lead to a buffer overrun condition for customers who use Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 and who have applied security update 918899. We are not aware of attacks that try to use the reported vulnerability at this point, nor are we aware of customer impact at this point. Microsoft is aggressively investigating the public reports.

As for the temporary fix (the "hotfix"), Microsoft doesn't seem to have posted it anywhere online. Instead, you can contact them at the regular fee-for-service phone numbers and email addresses, and they will provide the hotfix, but they make no promise that they won't charge you a fee:
To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support
Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

If I didn't spent most of my life at my computer and hadn't noticed that Microsoft was doing an automatic update right before the problem started, I probably would have thought I had a virus and would have been "tearing my computer apart" (the software, that is) trying to find it. As it was, my husband (who is a computer programmer) wasted a couple of hours over this.

All of this definitely makes me interested in trying a different browser. John, I will give Firefox a try.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Go with Firefox. It will bring over all your bookmarks, etc.when you install.

Tabbed means you can have multiple sites open within one browser window. Once you try it you'll most likely love it vs opening multiple browser windows.

I agree with using Firefox, but it's also wothwhile to have IE installed and available as a second browser. There are occasional web sites that have problems with the Firefox browser. Example: at Amazon.com, my Firefox will not play music samples using the Wnidows Media player plug-in, whereas the WM plug-in works perfectly fine at Barnesandnoble.com. If I use IE, the Amaxon links work fine.

 

[Icarus]

Remember to re-enable http 1.1 after they fix their patch.

-David

 

[The Conch Man]

Forgot to mention ~~ Usin the new Firefox 2 Beta ~~ :ignore:

 

[Glynda]

Shucks!

And here I was using the crashing as an excuse to replace my three year old computer!

 

[TheUnitrep]

Computers worldwide have been experiencing Internet Explorer crashes/issues following the install the MS06-042 (KB918899) patch released last week by Microsoft.

Perigo --

Thank you so much for this information. IE has been repeatedly crashing on my computer also. I thought it might have been a problem with my laptop.

Your post sure helped a bunch. I restored my computer to a point just prior to the installation of KB918899. I hope this cures the problem!!!

This is just another example of why TUGGERs are the best!!!

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

[AwayWeGo]

FireFox Is O.K. -- Most Of The Time.

Go with Firefox.

I did. It's OK -- most of the time. Now & then, however (most often, when my grandson is on my lap & we are using my computer to do a bunch of Flash Video stuff at Disney.com), FireFox just quits.

Sometimes, but more rarely, FireFox just quits on regular (i.e., non-Flash Video) web sites like TUG, eBay, Drudge Report, InstaPundit, etc. Simply restarting FireFox usually works OK, but then it'll have as much or more inclination to quit right in the middle of something as it had before.

The goofiest computer malfunction around here is that the printer-scanner-faxer-copier tries to re-install itself every time the telephone rings. A box opens up on the screen saying Windows can't find some required installation file, so I just click "finish" & keep on computing. The printer-scanner-faxer-copier works OK in all respects except 1: the scanner function doesn't work.

Another recurring computer glitch at our house is that unpredictably but usually 2 or 3 times a day (or so), the computer will keep on running, the browser (FireFox) will keep on running, the E-Mail program (Eudora) will keep on running, but the browser won't be able to find any URLs & Eudora won't be able to connect to the server that the E-Mail comes from or goes out through. When things get to that point, there's no help for it other than restarting Windows 2000.

To fix it, my son the computer scientist says he needs to come over & re-install the operating system some time. I tell him not to bother -- it's more important for him to spend time with his wife & little boy than to mess with The Old Man's computer. My son the computer scientist, who built & assembled & installed the generic Windows 2000 desktop unit we've been using since before we got into timesharing, says it's about time for us to go with a whole new computer anyway -- a mini-Mac or some such.

The nice thing about having a hands-on, non-Ivory Tower computer scientist in the family is that he takes care of everything to do with the hardware & software & peripherals & cable Internet & all that stuff. The flip side is that because of having somebody else who takes care of it, we're more than ordinarily ignorant about what's going on under the hood. About all I can do to the computer & related installation around here is put new (generic) ink cartridges. So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Htoo0]

Ha! I had just talked to our company IT guy to ask what update(s) he had just installed which caused this problem. He told me he didn't think it was the updates but our company cracking down on unauthorized use. I thought it was strange it started happening the same day he installed the updates!

 

[JudyS]

The nice thing about having a hands-on, non-Ivory Tower computer scientist in the family is that he takes care of everything to do with the hardware & software & peripherals & cable Internet & all that stuff. The flip side is that because of having somebody else who takes care of it, we're more than ordinarily ignorant about what's going on under the hood. About all I can do to the computer & related installation around here is put new (generic) ink cartridges. So it goes.

To some extent, I'm in the same situation. My Dh does the computer stuff, so I never really learn to do it myself. On the other hand, I know how to use a Palm Pilot and he doesn't.

I used the fix suggested by Gary (perigo449). So far, I've had just one MSIE crash this evening, instead of the 10 or an evening that I was getting -- much better!

Remember to re-enable http 1.1 after they fix their patch.

Well, with Microsoft, it's more like, "Remember to re-enable http 1.1 if they fix their patch." (And why should a patch need fixing, anyway?)

Anyone know what http 1.1 does? And, shouldn't http be up to a higher version number than "1.1" by now?

 

[Icarus]

Anyone know what http 1.1 does? And, shouldn't http be up to a higher version number than "1.1" by now?

Yes, I know, and I'm sure some other computer software people here also know what it is.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level
protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information
systems. It is a generic, stateless, protocol which can be used for
many tasks beyond its use for hypertext, such as name servers and
distributed object management systems, through extension of its
request methods, error codes and headers [47]. A feature of HTTP is
the typing and negotiation of data representation, allowing systems
to be built independently of the data being transferred.

HTTP has been in use by the World-Wide Web global information
initiative since 1990.

1.1 is the current version. It's a relatively simple protocol, and there's only been 3 official versions. 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1.

The simplest explanation is that it's the main protocol that web browsers use when you surf the web. The web browser is a client program that talks to an HTTP server using the HTTP protocol when you access information on the world wide web. The protocol defines the syntax and format of the messages. Since it's an open standard protocol, any client program can talk to any server, provided they are both compliant with the protocol.

-David

 

[Icarus]

I restored my computer to a point just prior to the installation of KB918899. I hope this cures the problem!!!

If that means that your restore point was taken before the August updates, you may be leaving your computer vulnerable to attack. The August update included several critical security updates.

If you must use IE, then disable HTTP/1.1. But make sure you are running with all the latest patches, even the broken one.

-David

 

[caribbeansun]

Really? Are you using the most recent version? Maybe I'm just lucky but crashes by Firefox have been extremely rare and in my case it usually only happens at work when trying to open a pdf file in the browser.

I did. It's OK -- most of the time. Now & then, however (most often, when my grandson is on my lap & we are using my computer to do a bunch of Flash Video stuff at Disney.com), FireFox just quits.

Sometimes, but more rarely, FireFox just quits on regular (i.e., non-Flash Video) web sites like TUG, eBay, Drudge Report, InstaPundit, etc. Simply restarting FireFox usually works OK, but then it'll have as much or more inclination to quit right in the middle of something as it had before.

 

[timeos2]

A valuable utility

Really? Are you using the most recent version? Maybe I'm just lucky but crashes by Firefox have been extremely rare and in my case it usually only happens at work when trying to open a pdf file in the browser.

I'd venture a guess that it isn't a Firefox problem but a Winsock issue. The other issue with email & web pages sees to fit that diagnosis as well. Google WinsockXPFix.exe - download & run it. Keep it on your hard drive as it can do wonders to fix internet issues & Windows 98/ME/2000/XP. It fixes the stuff spywares tend to screw up regularly.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Thanks For The Tip.

Google WinsockXPFix.exe - download & run it. Keep it on your hard drive as it can do wonders to fix internet issues & Windows 98/ME/2000/XP. It fixes the stuff spywares tend to screw up regularly.

OK -- did that. (Didn't actually Google it. DogPiled it instead. Switched to DogPile because I don't like Google as much as I used to. But that's another story.)

Thanks for the tip.

I figure I'll be able to tell whether it helped if a few days go by without needing to restart Windows 2000 in order for FireFox to keep on finding URLs.

When I previously mentioned Flash Video, that could have been a mistake. That is, for all I know it could be ShockWave Video -- not that I'm able to tell the difference.

Anyhow, isn't it strange & wonderful how home computers went so fast from being geeky gizmos that were the exclusive province of the nerdy science guys in the family to being the humdrum everyday devices they are now that even grandpas & grandmas can use for various mundane purposes with scarcely a 2nd thought?

Who'd a thunk?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Icarus]

Microsoft has released an updated patch for IE.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33937

I tried MS update, but it didn't pick it up. If you follow the link to the blog, people are still claiming it doesn't fix the problem. I would wait a bit to see what happens next with this, but if you want to, you can download it from the download center linked from the blog. The date of the update is Aug 24 on the download center page.

-David

 

[The Conch Man]

I just down-loaded the new Microsoft IE 7 Release Candiate 1 ~~ I was usin MS IE 7 Beta 3 ~~ This might be the right one for all to use ~~ I'm also usin the new Firefox 2 Beta 1 software ~~ Its really neat to Sync both Firefox & MS ~~ I open my E-mail under IE (my provider has a new Beta E-mail as well) & when I go to read the message ~~ it goes directly to Firefox ~~ Niffty stuff ~~ :ignore:

 

[fnewman]

I like , and use, Firefox as well. However, the problem with incompatibilities is real, and for us Tuggers, especially acute. For example, recently I was unable to properly search I.I. for next year without resorting to I.E. Now THAT'S important !!