Some Boxes etc Don't Show Up in Loaded Web Pages

B

Buffalo

Dell Inspiron 1505 Laptop with a dual core 1.66GHz Intel cpu and 2 GB ram
and XP SP3.
On some websites, the rectangular boxes where you input zip codes, etc don't
show up in either IE 8 or FF 19.0.2.
I use MSE for security.
I clicked on a link to buy a lifetime license of Pro MBAM
(MalwareBytesAntiMalware) for $12.47. When I got to that link, the Big Blue
Box that said 50% Off and the Buy Now (in a Green oblong slot))were not
present.
No Blue Box or Green Oval Slot appeared on the web page
All the numbers and letters were there except "BUY NOW ". Therefore I
could not see how get to the page to order it for $12.47
They should have appeared as in this link :
http://i47.tinypic.com/tz9f7.jpg
The below link is the one I orginally clicked on. Still available, I
believe.
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware
If I moved my mouse pointer to a spot where the Buy Now button was supposed
to be, it would show a link was present (hand symbol instead of my pointer).
Another person, Ernie , posted a link to where you could order it , so I did
buy it.
https://store.malwarebytes.org/342/purl-consumer?coupon=K34-C83-99G

I believe that it is probably some setting or or something missing in the
OS, since both browsers do the same thing.

Any ideas? This laptop is from a friend of mine who is now deceased.

Thanks,
Buffalo
 
P

Paul

Buffalo said:
Dell Inspiron 1505 Laptop with a dual core 1.66GHz Intel cpu and 2 GB
ram and XP SP3.
On some websites, the rectangular boxes where you input zip codes, etc
don't show up in either IE 8 or FF 19.0.2.
I use MSE for security.
I clicked on a link to buy a lifetime license of Pro MBAM
(MalwareBytesAntiMalware) for $12.47. When I got to that link, the Big
Blue Box that said 50% Off and the Buy Now (in a Green oblong
slot))were not present.
No Blue Box or Green Oval Slot appeared on the web page
All the numbers and letters were there except "BUY NOW ". Therefore
I could not see how get to the page to order it for $12.47
They should have appeared as in this link :
http://i47.tinypic.com/tz9f7.jpg
The below link is the one I orginally clicked on. Still available, I
believe.
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware
If I moved my mouse pointer to a spot where the Buy Now button was
supposed to be, it would show a link was present (hand symbol instead of
my pointer).
Another person, Ernie , posted a link to where you could order it , so I
did buy it.
https://store.malwarebytes.org/342/purl-consumer?coupon=K34-C83-99G

I believe that it is probably some setting or or something missing in
the OS, since both browsers do the same thing.

Any ideas? This laptop is from a friend of mine who is now deceased.

Thanks,
Buffalo
Click to expand...

I'm not going to try debugging that, but a suggestion would be, that
if you disable JavaScript in the browser, then button actions aren't
going to work.

Browsers come with a couple language extensions. Javascript or Inscript
are examples of scripting languages. They add to the functionality
that basic HTML provides.

An option like Java, is different, in that you have to install JRE
to run such things, and Java is like a separate executable. Some
web games use Java for example, to draw 3D on the screen or something.

So Java and Javascript aren't quite the same thing, and a typical
browser is more likely to support the Javascript thing, than support
Java out-of-the-box. Many more pages need Javascript or simple
scripting, to work, than need downloadable executables to work.

Checking security settings is a pain, on browsers, and I doubt
I could identify in a described case, what's broken. If there
was a "return to defaults" security button, you could try that I suppose :)
If a security slider is set to "High", that'll break a few things.

Some people add plug-ins to their browser, such as "No-Script" plugin,
which changes what content the browser gets to see. And that's another
mechanism for "gumming up the gears" on the browser. Review the plugins
on the browser, to get some idea how messed up things can be.

*******

On a newly acquired, used laptop, you have the option of using
the recovery partition, and restoring the machine to factory
condition. That's the quickest way to blow away a series of
computing problems (and also blow away all the installed programs).
Then you're starting from a "known good" condition. You have the
option of backing up the laptop hard drive, before doing that,
so you have some recourse if you don't like the results.
Do a backup to an external drive. If you need a tool, you
can always use Macrium Reflect Free. (Did I mention
I like free stuff ? :) )

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Paul
 
B

Buffalo

"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
I'm not going to try debugging that, but a suggestion would be, that
if you disable JavaScript in the browser, then button actions aren't
going to work.

Browsers come with a couple language extensions. Javascript or Inscript
are examples of scripting languages. They add to the functionality
that basic HTML provides.

An option like Java, is different, in that you have to install JRE
to run such things, and Java is like a separate executable. Some
web games use Java for example, to draw 3D on the screen or something.

So Java and Javascript aren't quite the same thing, and a typical
browser is more likely to support the Javascript thing, than support
Java out-of-the-box. Many more pages need Javascript or simple
scripting, to work, than need downloadable executables to work.

Checking security settings is a pain, on browsers, and I doubt
I could identify in a described case, what's broken. If there
was a "return to defaults" security button, you could try that I suppose
:)
If a security slider is set to "High", that'll break a few things.

Some people add plug-ins to their browser, such as "No-Script" plugin,
which changes what content the browser gets to see. And that's another
mechanism for "gumming up the gears" on the browser. Review the plugins
on the browser, to get some idea how messed up things can be.

*******

On a newly acquired, used laptop, you have the option of using
the recovery partition, and restoring the machine to factory
condition. That's the quickest way to blow away a series of
computing problems (and also blow away all the installed programs).
Then you're starting from a "known good" condition. You have the
option of backing up the laptop hard drive, before doing that,
so you have some recourse if you don't like the results.
Do a backup to an external drive. If you need a tool, you
can always use Macrium Reflect Free. (Did I mention
I like free stuff ? :) )

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks for the solid info. Both browsers (ie8 and ff19.0.2) are up to date
and both refuse to show those boxec.
Is there an OS setting that would apply to both browsers and possibly cause
that problem?
JavaScript is enabled in both browsers and the Java platform is up to date
also.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
 
P

Paul

Buffalo said:
"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

Thanks for the solid info. Both browsers (ie8 and ff19.0.2) are up to
date and both refuse to show those boxec.
Is there an OS setting that would apply to both browsers and possibly
cause that problem?
JavaScript is enabled in both browsers and the Java platform is up to
date also.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Click to expand...

When I tried to "save" this web page, it complained about not
being able to download "all.js". So that file is Javascript (.js).

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware

The "Buy it now" button, has this value for the underlying link.
The link says "ajax".

http://www.bitsdujour.com/ajax/buy.aspx?regular=true&review=malwarebytes-anti-malware

Ajax is explained here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)

"an acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML"

"With Ajax, web applications can send data to, and retrieve data from,
a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with
the display and behavior of the existing page."

Ajax might be a problem for a person on dialup, because some of the
behavior of ajax is timing dependent. People on dialup, their
download is so slow, the ajax session can actually time out, before
the information is sent. Other than that, as far as I know,
Ajax is just Javascript. So you're still debugging a Javascript
problem.

I'm not a web expert, and I've only debugged things here, that broke for me.
That roll-over "Buy it now" button looks to be working here. And I
don't have any NoScript or disabled Javascript button, to upset it.

Browsers have an error console, and if you can figure out where that
is, sometimes you'll see an indicative error message there.

Since the "deal" on the above web page is expired now, that could
account for the web page being broken.

Paul
 
B

Buffalo

"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
When I tried to "save" this web page, it complained about not
being able to download "all.js". So that file is Javascript (.js).

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware

The "Buy it now" button, has this value for the underlying link.
The link says "ajax".

http://www.bitsdujour.com/ajax/buy.aspx?regular=true&review=malwarebytes-anti-malware

Ajax is explained here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)

"an acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML"

"With Ajax, web applications can send data to, and retrieve data from,
a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with
the display and behavior of the existing page."

Ajax might be a problem for a person on dialup, because some of the
behavior of ajax is timing dependent. People on dialup, their
download is so slow, the ajax session can actually time out, before
the information is sent. Other than that, as far as I know,
Ajax is just Javascript. So you're still debugging a Javascript
problem.

I'm not a web expert, and I've only debugged things here, that broke for
me.
That roll-over "Buy it now" button looks to be working here. And I
don't have any NoScript or disabled Javascript button, to upset it.

Browsers have an error console, and if you can figure out where that
is, sometimes you'll see an indicative error message there.

Since the "deal" on the above web page is expired now, that could
account for the web page being broken.

Paul
Click to expand...

--
Even though neither the blue box or the green (box) didn't show up, if I
moved my mouse pointer to the position where the green box was supposed to
be, the pointer would change to a hand and the link (words only) would show
up and I could go to it.
Not sure if this helps, but I thought I would throw it in anyways. :)
Buffalo
 
P

Paul

Buffalo said:
Even though neither the blue box or the green (box) didn't show up,
if I moved my mouse pointer to the position where the green box was
supposed to be, the pointer would change to a hand and the link
(words only) would show up and I could go to it.

Not sure if this helps, but I thought I would throw it in anyways. :)
Buffalo
Click to expand...

It could be related to the "all.js" claiming not to be downloading.

Another option for debugging a busted browser session, is using
Wireshark to trace what files are being downloaded. Wireshark
even has an "Export objects" option, and using that, it actually
makes a folder of all the files that were being downloaded.
There was no all.js in there. So Wireshark is another way,
you can examine the files coming from the website. (The
folder I got, has a size of 1.6MB, which is a lot of
stuff to look at in detail.)

Using this, is a learning experience. At least it isn't
a problem getting it to run on WinXP. On things like Windows 8,
you have to know what to "Run as administrator", to get the
PCAP part running.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireshark

For web sites that use https protocol (secure, like your bank),
then forget using Wireshark for that. Wireshark is for plain HTTP.

Paul
 
B

Buffalo

"Paul" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
It could be related to the "all.js" claiming not to be downloading.

Another option for debugging a busted browser session, is using
Wireshark to trace what files are being downloaded. Wireshark
even has an "Export objects" option, and using that, it actually
makes a folder of all the files that were being downloaded.
There was no all.js in there. So Wireshark is another way,
you can examine the files coming from the website. (The
folder I got, has a size of 1.6MB, which is a lot of
stuff to look at in detail.)

Using this, is a learning experience. At least it isn't
a problem getting it to run on WinXP. On things like Windows 8,
you have to know what to "Run as administrator", to get the
PCAP part running.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireshark

For web sites that use https protocol (secure, like your bank),
then forget using Wireshark for that. Wireshark is for plain HTTP.

Paul
Click to expand...
Just more info on what I don't see on the xp laptop compared to what I see
on my PC.
At the top of the page:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware
there is no large blue box across the top of the screen.
Where that blue box is supposed to be, there is also not a large BitsDuJour
Word although the words "for People who Love Software" is there.
There is no thin blue square box around the picture of Pro Malwarebytes just
to the left of where it says "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO" near the top
of the page.
On the upper left side, there is no Large Blue Box enclosing the 50% Off
$12.47 notice nor is there the message "Deal Expired but might be back" or
the gray box it is while viewing that page on my PC.
There are no words that say" I Want This" but the small 'or' is there
between that and "Buy Now at Retail Price" which doesn't show up either.
All the green oblong boxes below the "On BitsDuJour Today" are missing but
all the words are there. Interesting that the blue balloons to the left of
the numbers (42,9,7,14 etc) are not there either.
Also the % sign next to 100,50.50,53 etc in those boxes is also missing.
Just thought that perhaps that info would tell you what is missing (are
those items Ajax,Java, etc)?
Also, there are no icons next to the folks who left comments or asked
questions in the responses (ie: Hirah Essack) but if I hover the mouse
pointer to where that icon is supposed to be, the pointer changes to a hand
and I can rt click on it and read the link.

Thanks to anyone who has an idea
Buffalo
 
B

Buffalo

"Buffalo" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
[snip]

Just more info on what I don't see on the xp laptop compared to what I see
on my PC.
At the top of the page:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/malwarebytes-anti-malware
there is no large blue box across the top of the screen.
Where that blue box is supposed to be, there is also not a large BitsDuJour
Word although the words "for People who Love Software" is there.
There is no thin blue square box around the picture of Pro Malwarebytes
just to the left of where it says "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO" near the
top of the page.
Click to expand...
On the upper left side, there is no Large Blue Box enclosing the 50% Off
Click to expand...

SHOULD have said "upper RIGHT side and not Left. Sorry.

[snip]
 
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