IE 6 is being recognized as old browser on some sites

[SassyS]

Having a problem with IE 6 not being recognized as a new
browser, mostly on Yahoo Mail and even Microsoft Office
Update sites, and sometimes on MSN.

Yahoo Mail says I'm running Netscape 3, and advises me to
upgrade. Other sites just say I must be running IE 4 or
higher to view the site.

I'm running IE 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp2 with all patches
applied. Windows XP SP1 with all patches applied.

I even reinstalled the system on a new hdd, and the
problem persists. This is not a bug or malware - I have
NortonAV that I religiously update and I'm very careful
about the sites I visit and anything I download. Email
is Yahoo, where I don't download any attachments. And
this computer is almost exclusively used for work and
school, not much general or entertainment web browsing at
all.

Microsoft Office's website has an article dated Sept '03
that says they are aware that some people are having
problems even when using a newer browser, but there is no
solution offered.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm a software tech,
and even I'm about ready to pull my hair out over this.

Thanks,

SassyS

 

[SassyS]

OK, just to be safe, I installed all the spyware and
adware removal tools. They did find some tracking
cookies, but that was pretty much it. They did not fix
the problems I'm having with IE.

To recap, I'm running a hw firewall that hasn't given me
any problems before, and no settings have changed. I'm
not running any sw firewalls, including the one that
comes with XP (it's disabled). I'm not running any ad
blocking software. I had the Google pop-up blocker
running, but I've disabled that and the problem remains.

From looking at other posts, it really appears to me that
several other people are having the same problem, and the
one thing we all have in common is that we have applied
all IE 6 patches.

Any suggestions anyone?

 

[Simon]

Hi Sassy - not sure if you are using a host file to
control popup, etc, but I am using one provided at
MPVs.org and I think this is causing the problem. I
renamed my host file to NOHOST to disable it and the
hotmail loads fine!!!

 

[SassyS]

Hi Simon,

No, I tried using that hosts file, but it didn't fix the
problem for me, so I renamed it. My original hosts file
only had an entry for localhost (127.0.0.1).

I find it interesting that even Microsoft's Office 2003
update page won't load properly, and says that I'm using
an older browser (and I'm not).

Still looking for a solution.

-SassyS

 

[SassyS]

I found the answer. Some of the posts on this site got
me thinking, so I went and checked my firewall settings.
I'm not sure why this was causing the problem, but it was.

A few months ago, I had a cousin staying with me who got
infected by that coolwebsearch malware bug thingy.
Anyway, I put a filter rule on my hw firewall to block
that site. I'm not sure why Yahoo, Office Update, and
Hotmail were affected by the rule, when plenty of other
sites weren't, but that is what was causing the problem.

Bad user, I know. I'd honestly forgotten I'd even
changed the ruleset until reading some of these posts.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Cheers,

SassyS

 

[H Leboeuf]

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http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html
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