Firefox and WindowsHelp.Microsoft.Com

[SailingCyclops]

Hi:

Is it possible to access the Windows Help Forums at
windoeshelp.microsoft.com using firefox? I had great trouble doing so even
with IE. I had to put microsoft.com in the "trusted zone" allowing ActiveX.
Firefox has no ActiveX support, so, is it even possible to go there using my
default browser FireFox? If so, how so?

I can get there, but I can't log in with my live ID. When I go to
Community-->Discussions-->Windows Vista General Discussion I can read OK,
but when I hit "Sign In" (That takes you to login.live.com) and put in my
email/Pass it doesn't actually log me in. If I then hit "Edit Profile"
Firefox thrashes between profile.microsoft.com and windowshelp.microsoft.com
for a long time without displaying anything on the screen. Finally I get the
message: "An unknown error occurred while processing your request. This is
most likely due to a connection failure. Please try again."

Javascript and Java are enabled. The same thing happened with IE until I put
windowshelp.microsoft.com into the "trusted zone" AND allowed IE to execute
ActiveX.

This is a new laptop with Vista on it. I am totally new to windows having
used FreeBSD/Linux for the past 15 years. It came with Norton360. I "Switch
User" to an Admin account, and poke around in Norton "Settings" and It
doesn't appear there is anything about browser-specific settings. So, I
temporarily turned Norton completely off, and the problem still persists.

I have NoScript and adblock on FF, and have allowed the site to execute
anything, and have disabled adblock. I allow cookies as well. I can also log
into hotmail.com OK, with my liveID (and with all security turned on), and
that works OK.

Bob

 

[Andrew Murray]

The help forum is actually a newsgroup (not a web forum). You should access
it via a newsreader (such as Live Mail).

Read this for instructions:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/help/c3f4c779-88b9-4c2d-b7ea-0393474334c11033.mspx

However, if you need to use the web interface, from the home page, you go
to "Discussions" - link in on left hand menu under "Community " category,
you will see the available newsgroups, which you can read/post to in the web
interface, the 'Sign-In' button is at the top-right corner.

I just tried my Live ID and logged on as usual without any trouble at all.
Not sure what your issue is, but I certainly can't duplicate the issue as
you describe.

 

[SailingCyclops]

I just tried my Live ID and logged on as usual without any trouble at all.
Not sure what your issue is, but I certainly can't duplicate the issue as
you describe.

The issue is explained in detail with screen shots here :
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21719855-Vista-WindowshelpMicrosoftCom-and-Firefox

I will be using NNTP access, thanks.

Bob