I am currently testing the new Internet Explorer Release 7 (IE 7), and have encountered the following Internet dial up connection problems that did not exist prior to applying what Microsoft regards as a "critical" fix.

(1) I have 3 possible Internet dial up connections. Under the previous IE 6, I simply selected the connection that I wanted, and clicked on Connect. After that, everything worked OK with that connection. End of story.

However, under IE 7, after I select the connection that I want and click on Connect, another pop up window appears with the bottom portion off of the screen. So I have to reposition the 2nd unwanted pop up window, and click on Dial. But this is only the beginning of my nightmare of trying to remain connected to the Internet under IE 7.

(2) If I begin my connection by bringing up IE 7, and I decide that I want to bring up Outlook Express, my Internet connection is immediately dropped, and I have to go through this whole dial up procedure again. This never happened with the previous IE 6. If I subsequently close Outlook Express, my Internet connection remains open. However, if I again attempt to bring up Outlook Express, my Internet connection is again dropped, and I must again go through this dial up procedure.

I did find a partial, but unacceptable, workaround to this problem. If I check "Ask before switching dial-up connections" under "Connection" under "Options" in the "Tools" icon at the top of the Outlook Express main menu, Outlook Express will either remain connected to the Internet when I attempt to open or reopen Outlook Express, or I get another obnoxious pop up window that I must use to override what Outlook Express regards as its default connection under IE 7.

(3) I get intermittent but all too frequent 691 Errors while "Verifying username and password..." when attempting to connect to the Internet under either IE 7 or Outlook Express. Sometimes I can correct this problem by doing a direct dial up without going through either IE7 or Outlook Express. However, if this does not work, then I have finally concluded that IE 7 has most likely obliterated my log in password. I wasted considerable time doing trial and error testing trying to figure this out.

Can anyone give me any clue as to how I can fix these unacceptable problems, or can these problems only be fixed by Microsoft?

If nobody can tell me how to fix these problems, then I will uninstall IE 7, and go back to using IE 6 to a lesser extent than I did before. My alternative to using Internet Explorer will be to start using Mozilla Firefox a lot more than I have been doing in the past, which was only occasionally. Last weekend I upgraded to Mozilla Firefox Release 2. I have discovered that I can get most of the new features in IE 7 by using Firefox 2, but without any of the above kinds of problems.

For a good comparison of "Internet Explorer 7 vs. Firefox 2" see <http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6656808-1.html?tag=nl.e776>.

Incidentally, just as Outlook Express is the companion mail system that comes bundled with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Mozilla Foundation has a companion mail system to its Firefox browser called Thunderbird. See <http://www.mozilla.org/products/> for further information. Mozilla Firefox can easily be installed without Thunderbird, and I suspect that most current Firefox users have never installed or tested the companion Mozilla Thunderbird mail product. Have you had any experience with Thunderbird? Could Thunderbird possibly be a viable alternative to Outlook Express? I am just wondering at this point. The problem with mail systems is that they cannot be used concurrently on a personal computer, unlike Internet browsers.

Richard A. Landkamer

Richard A. Landkamer wrote:

> I am currently testing the new Internet Explorer Release 7 (IE 7), and
> have encountered the following Internet dial up connection problems
> that did not exist prior to applying what Microsoft regards as a
> "critical" fix.

(snip rather long post - wrong newsgroup)

You should post your question in the IE7 newsgroup *after* you spend
some time reading through the posts there. The IE7 newsgroup is:

microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

There are a huge number of posts so it would be smart to start by going
to Google Groups Advanced Search. Use a search term that describes your
problem, constrain the search to the IE7 newsgroup and the date to very
recently.

And no, I'm sorry but I don't have your answers or I would tell you
now. ;-)

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Actually I posted this issue to both Microsoft news groups. The reason
why I included that posting in this news group is because Microsoft issued
IE7 as an alleged "critical" fix to Windows XP, instead of as an optional
update to another Microsoft product that merely runs under Windows XP.
Why Microsoft released IE 7 as a "critical" fix to Windows XP seems
bizarre to me, but Microsoft obviously regards IE 7 as somehow being
"critical" to Windows XP.

Richard A. Landkamer


"Malke" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Richard A. Landkamer wrote:
>
>> I am currently testing the new Internet Explorer Release 7 (IE 7), and
>> have encountered the following Internet dial up connection problems
>> that did not exist prior to applying what Microsoft regards as a
>> "critical" fix.
>
> (snip rather long post - wrong newsgroup)
>
> You should post your question in the IE7 newsgroup *after* you spend
> some time reading through the posts there. The IE7 newsgroup is:
>
> microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general
>
> There are a huge number of posts so it would be smart to start by going
> to Google Groups Advanced Search. Use a search term that describes your
> problem, constrain the search to the IE7 newsgroup and the date to very
> recently.
>
> And no, I'm sorry but I don't have your answers or I would tell you
> now. ;-)
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Richard...Just uninstall IE7. Best solution that I found. I did
just that and voila...everything works like it should.

Doug W.

"Richard A. Landkamer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Actually I posted this issue to both Microsoft news groups.
> The reason
> why I included that posting in this news group is because
> Microsoft issued
> IE7 as an alleged "critical" fix to Windows XP, instead of as
> an optional
> update to another Microsoft product that merely runs under
> Windows XP.
> Why Microsoft released IE 7 as a "critical" fix to Windows XP
> seems
> bizarre to me, but Microsoft obviously regards IE 7 as somehow
> being
> "critical" to Windows XP.
>
> Richard A. Landkamer
>
>
> "Malke" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Richard A. Landkamer wrote:
>>
>>> I am currently testing the new Internet Explorer Release 7
>>> (IE 7), and
>>> have encountered the following Internet dial up connection
>>> problems
>>> that did not exist prior to applying what Microsoft regards
>>> as a
>>> "critical" fix.
>>
>> (snip rather long post - wrong newsgroup)
>>
>> You should post your question in the IE7 newsgroup *after*
>> you spend
>> some time reading through the posts there. The IE7 newsgroup
>> is:
>>
>> microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general
>>
>> There are a huge number of posts so it would be smart to
>> start by going
>> to Google Groups Advanced Search. Use a search term that
>> describes your
>> problem, constrain the search to the IE7 newsgroup and the
>> date to very
>> recently.
>>
>> And no, I'm sorry but I don't have your answers or I would
>> tell you
>> now. ;-)
>>
>> Malke
>> --
>> Elephant Boy Computers
>> www.elephantboycomputers.com
>> "Don't Panic!"
>> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>
>