Can't Download? Reset IE

Outsmart Malware With This Tip

Sometimes programs get “corrupted” and just refuse to work right, and usually the way to repair them is to uninstall them (Add/Remove Programs), and then re-Install a fresh copy.

One of my more popular articles has been how to repair the hyperlinks function in IE when clicking on a link doesn’t open a new page (if that’s your issue, click here), and this tip goes a little further than that. (To see all my articles on Internet Explorer, click on “IE 7″ in my Categories widget.)

You can resolve many troublesome IE issues by “resetting” it (which also re-registers .dll’s).

[note: Export your Favorites to a file on your Desktop first, and then Import them again after the repair.]

For IE 7 and 8:
Click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options”.
On the Advanced tab, and then click the “Reset” button.

For IE 6:
[note: I highly, sincerely, and ardently, urge you to stop using IE 6, and switch to 7 or 8, or Firefox 3, or Avant, or whatever. Please? IE 6 is only the most hacked piece of software ever!]

a: Click Start, click Run, type “%systemroot%\inf” (no quotes) and then press Enter.
b: Find the Ie.inf file that is located in Windows\Inf folder.
c: Right-click the Ie.inf file, and then click Install.
d: Restart the computer when the file copy process is complete

Today’s free link: A fellow tech blogger asked for an interview to post on his website. If you're interested, you can read it here.

Today's free download: In one of the tips above, I mentioned Windows’ Add/Remove Programs tool (found in your Control Panel) which is the standard method for uninstalling programs from your machine. Long-time Windows users can attest that this utility doesn’t always work as it should, and completely remove all traces of the app you want gone. To really remove a program, you may want the power of a 3rd-party uninstall program, and the one that’s most recommended in the Geek community is Revo Uninstaller (also available in a portable version).

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Safer Surfing Tool

Have you installed the safer surfing WOT toolbar yet? I install it on all my friend’s and family’s machines (and offer to, to all my clients) because its red – yellow – green “traffic signal” warning system is simple enough for young children.

Here, it’s warning of a dangerous hyperlink embedded in a phishing email that’s attempting to steal my identity and banking login…

..and should you be so foolish as to ignore (or.. simply not notice) the red circle, and click on the link anyway, and try to go to the website..

A warning curtain intervenes. It tells you why the website has “earned” the very bad red rating. You must click “Go to site” to proceed to the website itself.

These ratings are determined by you, me, and other Internet surfers… not some faceless giant corporation or government agency. It is “people driven”, and you get a vote.

Check it out. Visit http://mywot.com today. Protect yourself from “phraud”, and “phishing”, and “rogue antivirus” programs .. like TotalProtect2009. (See Is that anti-spyware program really spyware? and Total Protect 2009/ TotalProtect2009 - 3 Removal Solutions)

Note: It now includes a Parental Control setting!

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Two Quick Announcements

* Regular readers will know that I frequently mention (and recommend) the Web Of Trust (WOT) web browser extension (a toolbar for IE, and a plug-in for Firefox) as a free, simple to use and understand, dangerous website alerting tool.

After installation, WOT examines URL's (website addresses) and inserts a green, yellow, or red symbol next to them, to rate their danger level. It integrates into your search results, as well as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail.

Today I received a notice from them that I had been part of a small group awarded special recognition for helping to spread word of this free security enhancer.. which has now been downloaded over 3 million times.
You're quite welcome, folks at WOT. The Internet is a dangerous place (even the "safe and sane" sites get hacked) and I very much appreciate what you do.

Kind of a nice way to start my day..
For more on the award, click here. And to download this great plug-in, click here.

* And, regular readers will also recognize the name Bill Mullins. He is a highly regarded Internet Security blogger and the author of Tech Thoughts (The first website posted to my Blogroll). I often mention his articles.. and I highly recommend him to you.

Some while ago, I had the honor and privilege of being Mr. Mullins' first Guest Author. I am pleased to announce that he now has devoted a newly created page on his site just for Guest Writers. This is a great opportunity for those of you who write tech-oriented articles, and would like to gain the exposure of appearing on a popular site.

Although there is currently only a few submissions, I expect this to develop into a wonderful "reading room" rather quickly.
http://billmullins.wordpress.com/guest-writers/

[note: no, I don't know how to go about making your submission. I believe you'll find his contact info on his About page.]

Part 3 is coming soon.. just have to figure it out and write it..

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Troubleshoot Runtime Error in Internet Explorer

Recent calls from clients has triggered in me a sense of deja-vu. There was an unusual number of people who were having their IE web browsing session crash, due to a "Runtime Error".

When I looked at their machines, I kept being reminded of one of my earliest articles, Toolbar madness.

So, I would like to take a moment to reiterate: People, you neither want, nor need, 5 different "media players", 4 accounting programs, 3 Peer-to-Peer apps.. and - most certainly not - a dozen "toolbars"!
("Paul, why is my computer so much slower than it used to be?")

I am not sure if it's conditioning, simple human curiosity, or what, but people have a tendency to download and install every new thing they stumble across.. So they can "try it", or "it looked kewl"...

In computing, less is more. You want lean. You want mean. And if you don't use, remove it!
End rant.

Error message: Runtime Error!! Program: c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplorer.exe. This application has required the runtime to terminate in an unusual way.

Tip of the day: You can cure this malfunction by knowing that it is caused by a conflict with a (possibly corrupted) installed Add-on. In each and every of my caller's instance, it was the Google Toolbar - so that's the place to start your troubleshooting.
[Note: to be fair to the Google toolbar, the corruption probably occurred during an update, and was caused by these people having the Yahoo! toolbar installed also. One or the other, folks.]

The quick-and-dirty solution is to go into Add/Remove Programs and uninstall/re-install the Google toolbar, but the way to be sure - or, if you're getting this error and don't have the Google toolbar - is to disable add ons one at a time until the problem goes away.
 
1) In IE, click on "Tools", then select "Manage Add-ons", and then "Enable or Disable Add-ons", as shown above.

2) A list of installed Add-ons will appear. Start by looking for "Google Toolbar Helper". Select it, and then click on the "Disable" button.

3) Close, and restart Internet Explorer, and surf normally for a while. If you no longer get crashes and error messages, you've found the culprit. An uninstall/re-install is now in order (if you want to keep the toolbar, that is).
If you continue to get crashes, repeat the Steps and disable one more Add-on.. until you find the right one by process of elimination.

Today's free link: Create your own online newspaper at crayon.net (CReAte Your Own Newspaper). Get just the topics you want from the sources you want.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Ad Block Your Way To A Happier You

What is real? What is 'hype'?

Percentage-wise.

Why is everyone trying to sell me something? All the time.

I have had it up to my eyeballs.. and I think I'm going to rebel. I think I'll declare a new Personal Policy.. which goes like this: If I know about this product because of advertising and/or the media, I ain't gonna buy it.

Wait. That won't work. I can't think of a single thing that isn't being hyped.

Hmmm... maybe I'll have to modify that some. How about: When forced to choose between two products.. I buy the one that advertises less.

Yes.. that might work.

TechPaul's Plan to Improve the World #347.

Hey, do me a favor, will you? I need more input for my data set. If you haven't taken my (quick and easy) Tech poll, please take 60 seconds, and click here. Thanks!
[ It won't take you the full minute.. I promise.]

**Look for the results Friday.

Today's free download(s): The Sophos Endpoint Assessment Test (an "endpoint" is IT- speak for "computer") is a single scan checks that:

• your Microsoft service pack is the current one for your operating system
• your Microsoft patches are all up to date
• anti-virus protection is installed, running and current
• a personal firewall is installed and running

The Endpoint Assessment Test checks for over 600 patches, 28 anti-virus applications, and 22 firewall applications.

Need some ad blockers?
For Internet Explorer: try SelectView
For Firefox: get the plug-in "Add ons" AdBlock Plus, Flashblock, and NoScript.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Latest Flash Version Breaks Things

Folks--
No, you aren't seeing things, and no, it's (probably) not a new infection on your machine.
Adobe's recent Flash Player update has caused a lot of trouble (particularly to Firefox users)  by failing to work with several web sites that rely heavily on Flash.

You may find it easiest to use IE until Adobe and Webmasters get the glitch squared away.

Heavy-Duty IE Repair - Road Warrior's Gmail

Folks, due to an unusually large number of questions received here at Tech--for Everyone Headquarters recently, I am re-posting this article on repairing Internet Explorer. I'd like to remind readers that that the tips, tricks, and how-to's posted here are searchable..

Tip(s) of the day: (How about that? Two for the price of one!)
Tip 1) In response to public demand, Google has added a feature to its Gmail service which will force it to always use SSL encryption when you logon (HTTPS). This is particularly beneficial to those of you "mobile" types -who use wireless, public computers, and/or public ‘hotspots’. All you need to do is turn it on.
[note: a secured session is not the same thing as encrypting your individual messages. For my How To on that, click here.]

To turn on the “always use” feature, log on to your Gmail account, and in the upper-right area, find, and click on the “Settings” link.
Now, scroll down to the bottom, and in the “Browser connection” option, click on the “always use https” radio button, and then click on “Save Changes”.

That’s it. You’re done. Now your connection to the mail server will be encrypted and you’ll be protected from packet sniffers and "cookie-jacking".

Tip 2) Sometimes programs get “corrupted” and just refuse to work right, and usually the way to repair them is to uninstall them (Add/Remove Programs), and then re-Install a fresh copy.
One of my more popular articles has been how to repair the hyperlinks function in IE when clicking on a link doesn’t open a new page (if that’s your issue, click here), and this tip goes a little further than that. (To see all my articles on Internet Explorer, click on “IE 7″ in my Categories widget.)

You can resolve many troublesome IE issues by “resetting” it (which also re-registers .dll’s).

[note: Export your Favorites to a file on your Desktop first, and then Import them again after the repair.]
For IE 7:
Click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options”.
On the Advanced tab, and then click the “Reset” button.

For IE 6:
[note: I highly, sincerely, and ardently, urge you to stop using IE 6, and switch to 7, or Firefox 3, or Avant, or whatever. Please? IE 6 is only the most hacked piece of software ever!]

a: Click Start, click Run, type “%systemroot%\inf” (no quotes) and then press Enter.
b: Find the Ie.inf file that is located in Windows\Inf folder.
c: Right-click the Ie.inf file, and then click Install.
d: Restart the computer when the file copy process is complete

Today’s free link: In one of the tips above, I mentioned Windows’ Add/Remove Programs tool (found in your Control Panel) which is the standard method for uninstalling programs from your machine. Long-time Windows users can attest that this utility doesn’t always work as it should, and completely remove all traces of the app you want gone. To really remove a program, you may want the power of a 3rd-party uninstall program, and the one that’s most recommended in the Geek community is Revo Uninstaller (also available in a portable version).

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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