Heeeelp

[Alan]

My computer has been acting up lately and I don't know why. Often when I click on a link or open a link in a new window, IE freezes and I need to alt-ctl-delete to get out of it. I've checked for viruses and spyware and haven't found anything.

Any ideas?

 

[Chaplin]

Does it happen after you reboot?

If so, it might be a hardware problem--are you running dsl or dial-up? Are you running through a router or a hub? There are any number of things that could be wrong.

Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to find out if you have the latest IE update.

 

[Ryanwb]

Is ONLY internet explorer giving you problems? if so it likely isn't hardware related. Try dumping your cache and cookies (you can do this by RIGHT clicking on the IE icon on your desktop

or

You may be loading too many programs that start up when windows boots

Start > Run > type: msconfig - look under Startup tab.
Some are default Windows ones - ScanRegistry, System Tray, TaskMonitor, LoadPowerProfile, SchedulingAgent - they are supposed to run all the time, and are necessary for the normal operation of windows - normally they can be left as is. Uncheck everything else and reboot.

If that fails, I have had instances of a DLL file in IE corrupting, in that case you will need to totally reinstall internet explorer or just go with another browser www.mozilla.com

 

[Chaplin]

Is ONLY internet explorer giving you problems? if so it likely isn't hardware related. Try dumping your cache and cookies (you can do this by RIGHT clicking on the IE icon on your desktop

or

You may be loading too many programs that start up when windows boots

Start > Run > type: msconfig - look under Startup tab.
Some are default Windows ones - ScanRegistry, System Tray, TaskMonitor, LoadPowerProfile, SchedulingAgent - they are supposed to run all the time, and are necessary for the normal operation of windows - normally they can be left as is. Uncheck everything else and reboot.

If that fails, I have had instances of a DLL file in IE corrupting, in that case you will need to totally reinstall internet explorer or just go with another browser www.mozilla.com

Why wouldn't it be a hardware problem? Routers go bad all the time.

A good check though is using an alternative browser like you said. If it happens with the new browser as well, time to change your modem, card or router.

 

[Ryanwb]

Why wouldn't it be a hardware problem? Routers go bad all the time.

A good check though is using an alternative browser like you said. If it happens with the new browser as well, time to change your modem, card or router.

I was making the assumption that he is not using a personal router or switch because he is at a college dorm and they give you the connections. I mean it is completely possible for it to be a messed up connection, but I would try and narrow it down via software first

 

[Chaplin]

I was making the assumption that he is not using a personal router or switch because he is at a college dorm and they give you the connections. I mean it is completely possible for it to be a messed up connection, but I would try and narrow it down via software first

Aah. YOu know what, you're probably right--I forgot that Alan was still in college. If he's the only having the problem, then it probably is software related.

 

[CardFan67]

My computer has been acting up lately and I don't know why. Often when I click on a link or open a link in a new window, IE freezes and I need to alt-ctl-delete to get out of it. I've checked for viruses and spyware and haven't found anything.

Any ideas?

What Operating System are you running and if Windows, which version?
What are your computer's specifications, hardware, connection, etc...?
What version on MSIE are you currently using?
Did you install anything new lately?

If it is software related, which it sounds to be, as mentioned by the other posts you can always go around the problem by using a Mozilla substitute, you can get that at the following sites...

Firefox

Mozilla

There are many people that prefer Mozilla to MSIE any way but I hate just switching programs because I always know in the back of my mind that there is still something wrong in there somewhere... If it is software related and using another browser solves the problem I would still fix the problem...

To me it does sound like a spybot, trojan or foistware... there are many foistware programs that will load multiple files into your computers hard drive and registry based on agreed terms in the EULA of another installed program... I just ran across one that was not found by either spybot- search and destroy or adaware...