AOL 9 / MS IE6

[RJK]

....background...
Recently, I "factory cd-restored" an 'e-machine 750' (i.e. ran the Norton
image restore cd supplied with it). ...and added a strip of memory 'cause
there seemed to be an inordinate amount of hard-disk activity - which
didn't help ! (there's a horrid brand of hard-disk in it that I've never
heard of - suspect there is NO cache on its' IDE board).
....did all the Windows updates to SP2 and then some, installed Sun Java
runtime, ...did lots of tweaking too much to mention here. ...added MVP's
hosts file, ...set paging file to "system managed size" ...ran Diskeeper
boot defrag to defrag it etc. and lots more ...did LUVLY job - though I say
it myself. Installed Norton bloatware ...oops! I mean Norton 2003 OEM
....well I like Symantec and this version I'm quite familiar with - it's
behaving itself quite well ...let's not argue about that here pleeez !

....the problem...
When they got their PC back they installed their AOL 9.0 software /
connection to AOL.
Now, ...what I know about the AOL adsl connection and its' "unique"
application software "AOL 9" would fit onto the head of a pin.

They were having problems with one or two websites, (i suspect heavily
scripted ones), not loading properly in their AOL 9 browser window. I'm
guessing that the AOL does not use MSIE ?

Over the 'phone I got them to add the web addresses of "problematic"
websites into Nortons "Web list" and set permissions to allow everything for
them e.g. scripting / Java Applets / ActiveX controls / cookies / animated
images / flash player animations / pop-ups etc.
Still they were having problems, ...and there's me on the other end of the
'phone without a clue - guessing that they're using an AOL browser and not
MSIE. I had a quick rummage with Google and spotted a techie advising
somebody with a faintly similar problem to change security settings in MSIE
because the AOL software "refers" to security settings in MSIE.
So...'phoned him back and got him to change MSIE's Internet Zone to medium
and MSIE's Trusted Sites Zone to Low. Lo and behold - his problem
disappeared and he was able to access the sites that had been causing him a
problem.

So, ! ...my question, I suppose, is, Does an AOL user have to add web
addresses of sites, (that one trusts to not send malicious content along to
the browser window), into MSIE's Trusted Sites zone - in order to allow the
site to fully function in AOL's browser window ?
....or have I got the wrong end of the stick somewhere ?
....or is it just that the chap on the other end of the phone simply wasn't
able to identify that he was in fact using MSIE ?

HUGE TIA ...to any AOL user that can throw me a few tips.

regards, Richard

 

[Sandi - Microsoft MVP]

Please tell me that you have NOT told these users to set Internet Zone
security to low!! Please tell me that you did not tell them to do that.
Talk about opening the door to a floor of spyware hijackings.

AOL does use bits of IE, btw.

Regarding the question about adding sites to trusted zone to get them to run
in AOL's browser window - you have *so* got the wrong end of the stick.

Now, before we go any further, how about you provide precise informaiton
about 'having problems with one of two web sites'. Precise symptoms and
error messages please.

--

__________________________________________
Hyperlinks used to ensure advice is current
Sandi - Microsoft MVP since 1999
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org

Visit the Internet Explorer Community
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/default.mspx

 

[RJK]

Hello (blush) I didn't tell him/them to set the internet zone to Low, ( he
set it to medium )

I would never advise anybody to go lower than that. ...and of course it's
best kept set to high.
One of the sites they were trying to access was their online-banking. I
spent ages with them on the 'phone, getting them to add all require URL's as
they progressed into the site i.e. URL's starting http:// and https://
....but, seeing as they don't know how to copy and paste, and I suspect they
typed them in, there's probably typos all over the place ...mumuble
....mumble

regards, Richard

 

[Sandi - Microsoft MVP]

Hi RJK,

For advice specific to problems with secure sites, have a look at the first
link - for general advice, have a look at the second:


http://www.mvps.org/inetexplor­­er/answers2.htm#secure_sites
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplor­­er/answers.htm#dns

--

__________________________________________
Hyperlinks used to ensure advice is current
Sandi - Microsoft MVP since 1999
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org

Visit the Internet Explorer Community
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/default.mspx