cant open word docs from web

[Eric]

(windows xp media edition, all current updates and I'm using IE)
Hi,
This is very odd, i can open word docs from my local drive but
any word doc on the web i try to open/download fails. I get the Save/Open
dialog ok, but then there is a short pause and i get this message:

Internet Explorer cannot download some_file.doc from some_website.net
Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The requested
site is either unavailable or cannot be found, please try again later.

(note, "some_file.doc" and "some_website.net" are just made up names for
posting purposes only, the actual names are correct in the error message)

Its not a broken link, the other machines i tried downloaded or opened the
very same links just fine. I have a laptop with xp also and it can open
these same files on the web with no problem.

Any ideas what to check?

This same scenario happens with pdf files also, but other file types
download ok. (ie txt zip etc)

Another data point: This machine has a nasty habit of not seeing changes
in websites (it wont let go of the cached data) I find i have to delete
temporary and offline data frequently or i get stale web pages.
Thanks
Eric

 

[Guest]

Have you checked that the security settings are the same on your PC as with
others that you have had success?

 

[Eric]

(windows xp media edition, all current updates and I'm using IE)
Hi,
This is very odd, i can open word docs from my local drive but
any word doc on the web i try to open/download fails. I get the Save/Open
dialog ok, but then there is a short pause and i get this message:

Internet Explorer cannot download some_file.doc from some_website.net
Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The requested
site is either unavailable or cannot be found, please try again later.

(note, "some_file.doc" and "some_website.net" are just made up names for
posting purposes only, the actual names are correct in the error message)

Its not a broken link, the other machines i tried downloaded or opened the
very same links just fine. I have a laptop with xp also and it can open
these same files on the web with no problem.

Any ideas what to check?

This same scenario happens with pdf files also, but other file types
download ok. (ie txt zip etc)

Another data point: This machine has a nasty habit of not seeing changes
in websites (it wont let go of the cached data) I find i have to delete
temporary and offline data frequently or i get stale web pages.
Thanks
Eric

I fixed it, Turn off (uncheck) "Do not save encrypted pages to disk"
located on the Internet Explorer's "Tools Menu-> Internet Options->Advanced
Tab" near the bottom of the list.
Why that affects un-encrypted docuemts on non secure websites I have no
idea, but it is definitely the culprit
Eric