IE 6 no longer follows links to site stored on hard disk

[Martin Underwood]

I'm developing a web site using Front Page 2002. Until about 2 weeks ago, it
was possible to use IE6 to browse the local copy of the site (on the C
drive, in the directory where FrontPage stores the site) - eg using
FrontPage's File | Preview - and follow internal links between pages. Since
then, it has stopped following some links - you click on a link and nothing
happens (ie no response, as opposed to "page not found"). Some local links
work, some fail - even on the same page, some are affected and some aren't.

The strange thing is that IE will follow the links perfectly well when the
site is uploaded to a web server. It will also follow links if the site is
accessed over a network:

- from a second PC which has a drive mapped to the first PC's C drive

- from the first PC if a "loopback" drive is mapped (eg net use n:
\\first-pc\c)

So it is specifically URLs of the form file:///c:/webs/site/url.htm that
have no effect; links that resolve to either file:///n:/webs/site/url.htm or
http://site/url.htm work fine.

I've tested it on three other PCs (all XP SP2, IE6) and they are affected in
the same way: they cannot follow links if the site is on the C drive but can
follow links if the site is accessed over the network or on a web server.
Where some links works and some fail on the same page, it is the same links
that are affected on all PCs.

Other browsers (eg Netscape 7 or Opera) have no problem, even following
local links.

All the PCs have Norton Internet Security 2004, but I've tried disabling NIS
and/or the pop-up blocker of NIS - to no avail.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Wspecially if it's just started
happening in the last week or so. Could there have been a recent Windows
update and/or Norton update which has changed the behaviour?

The web server copy of the site is

http://fp.underw.f9.co.uk/BardenBiography


On this site, follow the Sources, Photographs or Voices links: on the
resulting pages, the links fail to have any effect, with the exception of
Hauxwell Parish Registers on the Historical Sources page which works. I've
no idea what's different about the code for this page as opposed to any of
the others on that page:

<tr>
<td width="219" height="20" bordercolor="#008000"
style="border-style: none; border-width: medium">
<p class="body">
<a target="_top"
href="../trade%20directories/trade%20directories.htm">Trade/Post
Office Directories</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="219" height="20" bordercolor="#008000"
style="border-style: none; border-width: medium">
<p class="body">
<a target="_top"
href="../parishregister/parish%20records.htm">Hauxwell Parish
Registers</a></td>
</tr>

The first link fails; the second works perfectly.

By the way, although this site uses frames, I've established that it is not
a frames issue: if I navigate directly to a page that appears within a frame
(eg historical%20sources\historical%20sources%20menu.htm) the problem still
exists.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Could there have been a recent Windows update and/or Norton update which has changed the behaviour?

Do a find in here for Mark of the web

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2brows.mspx

Also if you are absolutely sure of what it is that you are trying to run
in the Local Machine zone there are some checkboxes you could
try checking *temporarily* in the Security section of the Advanced tab
in Options.


BTW I didn't have any problem with your links and I can't see in your
source what might be causing a problem unless your description
is implying that there is a cross-zone situation when you're doing this.

You might get better assistance from a newsgroup which specializes
in web development.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle

 

[Martin Underwood]

Do a find in here for Mark of the web

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2brows.mspx

You're a star! I've solved this insidious problem - with your help.

It turns out that when I emailed changed copies of various .htm files to my
dad to incorporate in the site, Outlook Express inserted a line

<!-- saved from url=(0022)http://internet.e-mail -->

at the beginning of each page.

It is the presence of this line which is causing IE not to follow all/most
of the links on the page that contains that line. I can reproduce 100% that
if the line is present, local links fail; if the line is removed, local
links work.

So if anyone experiences this symptom, that is the first thing to be
checked. And if you ever email .htm files, tell the recipient to strip out
the offending line. It's very naughty for OE to modify the attachment: you'd
expect with files attached to an email message that the file which is
received will be an exact byte-for-byte copy of the file which you sent.