My first Win7 Problem

[mmanna]

Hi,

I finally encountered my first seemingly major Windows 7 problem. I've worked on several brand new Win7 PC's already and done 3 upgrades without a problem.

However, I've got one now in which IE8 seems to be broken since upgrading from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

Internet Explorer opens and simply says "Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Webpage" ... meanwhile, I have no problem pinging various hosts, and Safari (browser) works fine. The computer had Trend Micro Internet Security installed, but the customer uninstalled it before/during the upgrade as they were prompted to by the Win7 Upgrade Procedure. It currently has no security software.

I've googled extensively and tried numerous things, none of which made any difference.
- Checked Windows Firewall and Windows Defender
- Rebooted (duh!)
- Went to Control Panel, Add/Remove Windows Components, took out IE8, rebooted, put it back in, rebooted again.
- ipconfig /flushdns
- tried the built in "troubleshooters" in Win7 to check "Internet Explorer performance" and it reported no problems.
- tried diagnose/repair network connection
- verified that internet options settings are correct (no "automatically detect settings" or "proxy server" enabled, set all zones to defaults, disabled all add-ons
- tried running IE "as administrator"

The one clue I've come across, which is PROBABLY related, is the fact that the "Connections" tab in IE Options will not keep or apply any settings. I have seen this before many months ago but don't recall how I fixed it. It seems something is corrupt but I will have to do some more googling to find the resolution to this particular issue as I did awhile back.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'd appreciate any input!

Marc

 

[Methical]

If it wasn't Windows 7, i would of suggested ComboFix.
But its not officially supported, so I wouldn't try it, Might do more harm than good.

Did you try reset IE back to default? Or try IE's 'Safe Mode' ( no addons etc )

 

[FooseSB]

Hi,

I finally encountered my first seemingly major Windows 7 problem. I've worked on several brand new Win7 PC's already and done 3 upgrades without a problem.

However, I've got one now in which IE8 seems to be broken since upgrading from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

Internet Explorer opens and simply says "Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Webpage" ... meanwhile, I have no problem pinging various hosts, and Safari (browser) works fine. The computer had Trend Micro Internet Security installed, but the customer uninstalled it before/during the upgrade as they were prompted to by the Win7 Upgrade Procedure. It currently has no security software.

I've googled extensively and tried numerous things, none of which made any difference.
- Checked Windows Firewall and Windows Defender
- Rebooted (duh!)
- Went to Control Panel, Add/Remove Windows Components, took out IE8, rebooted, put it back in, rebooted again.
- ipconfig /flushdns
- tried the built in "troubleshooters" in Win7 to check "Internet Explorer performance" and it reported no problems.
- tried diagnose/repair network connection
- verified that internet options settings are correct (no "automatically detect settings" or "proxy server" enabled, set all zones to defaults, disabled all add-ons
- tried running IE "as administrator"

The one clue I've come across, which is PROBABLY related, is the fact that the "Connections" tab in IE Options will not keep or apply any settings. I have seen this before many months ago but don't recall how I fixed it. It seems something is corrupt but I will have to do some more googling to find the resolution to this particular issue as I did awhile back.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'd appreciate any input!

Marc

You probably already addressed this via the uninstall/reinstall, but you might just try installing a fresh IE8 on top of your "broken" version. I know that when we were doing XP repair installations and you had already upgraded to IE7 or IE8, either one of those versions would be broken by the repair installation, and the resolution was to just reinstall IE7 or 8. Not sure what's under the hood in this case, but maybe worth a shot.

 

[mmanna]

Thanks for the ideas so far ...

- Opening "Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)" doesn't make any difference.
- Trying to install IE8 from Microsoft's web site doesn't even let me try as it says I already have it.
- Trying to install IE8 from an offline copy we have on our flash drive said "this is not compatible with your operating system"

- I don't see any indications of spyware or suspicious activity ... and the system was working flawlessly prior to the Win7 upgrade, so I don't believe this is a spyware issue.

- Any other suggestions? I still think it's gotta be related to a file or registry key being corrupt, due to the fact that the "Connections" tab in IE's settings won't apply or keep any settings I select. (I can change them and hit OK, but go back in and they're gone).

-Marc

 

[cmerepair]

Did you try rebooting in safe mode w/networking? Disable all not MS services in msconfig? I would elimate as much 3rd party stuff as you can just to eliminate it.

 

[geekhelp4u]

Did you make sure that File > Work Offline is not checked?

Have you tried Tools > Internet Options
then advanced tab and resetting as well as restoring advanced settings?

Have you checked under the content tab to ensure no parental controls or restrictions are set?

Do you have any kind of VPN software installed?

Have you tried another profile to see if it is a profile setting or a windows setting?

Have you checked the group policy settings for IE?

 

[Cue]

I have seen this happen with MS family safety.
I could not fix it at that time, but I wonder if installing it and uninstalling might have fixed it.

Did you try safe mode with networking?
Did you try reinstalling Trend Micro? Perhaps the client did not restart after uninstall..?

 

[Tweak]

I am fairly certain this is similar to the problems caused often times when removing Norton and Symantec products... Two things I would do, snag AutoRuns and check for anything relating to Trend Micro and uncheck it, secondly there was a recent post for an app that fixes broken net connections which I actually tested today after removing Norton and it seems to have helped. I do not know who posted it but this is the link they provided.

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives...-vista-internet-connection-problems-with-icr/

Hope this helps, the other only viable solution is a reinstall and proper removal with a little prayer and luck sprinkled on top it would seem.

 

[mmanna]

I was finally able to resolve the problem by using HijackThis to delete some gibberish characters that were in the following registry policies:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,Proxy Server=(gibberish)

and

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride=(gibberish)

I believe this may have happened in the process of uninstalling Trend Micro, as I've seen this problem before on another computer that had also had Trend Micro recently uninstalled.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[topshelfpc]

An easier way to do that I believe is to use the reset option in IE tools/internet options menu. But I suppose HJT works too.

 

[mmanna]

The IE reset wouldn't fix it ... I tried ... more than once!

 

[Tweak]

A question I didn't post but that came to mind during my last reply...why are you using IE or not having clients use FireFox or Opera...just curious and I think a non-working IE is actually a bit of a security feature...