IE opens but stays minimized

[Clair Wethy]

My internet explorer recently started acting up by opening the web page but
only to the task bar. I get no error messages and I know it is loading
because I can hear the background music from my home page.
I have tried maximizing it and run ad-aware, Norton, browser hijacker and
they have found nothing. I updated IE and have all the patches.
When it opens I never see it, it goes directly to minimize. I have been
using Netscape and it is working fine but would like to know what the deal
is with IE.

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
I'm not sure why the window won't maximize, but try this:
When you right-click the button on the taskbar, there are options for "size"
and "move" right? Experiment with Size first, using the arrow keys on the
keyboard. Then try the Move option with the arrow keys. Your window is
probably very small, maybe just a few pixels, and might even be off the
screen. Once you can see it, drag it out to the desired size and make it the
last IE window you close.

Or (a hunch) try CWShredder from
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Or, try disabling (for diagnostic purposes) legitimate programs running in
the background which might be interacting with IE- security, antivirus,
ad-blockers, toolbars & other add-ons, etc.
You may have to uninstall then reinstall, or not reinstall, a program.

Hope this helps,
Don

 

[BuddhaBelly]

Tried sizing, moving, got nothing. Ran CWshredder, again nothing.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Tried sizing, moving, got nothing. Ran CWshredder, again nothing.

You're not giving us enough feedback to understand your problem
properly. Don has had to guess (correctly) that your window is in fact
not Minimized but merely a mispositioned or missized normal window
(otherwise you would not have been able to even try "sizing, moving".)

What happened when you tried "sizing, moving"? Did you just click
on those commands? That would have been an error. You have to
either move your mouse after that (noticing that the pointer changes
to a four-tipped arrow) or you can use your cursor keys to emulate
the same movements.

If your "sizing, moving" appears to be undone somehow it is possible
that the window is under program control. E.g. perhaps through scripting
and perhaps through remote scripting (so you can't peek at it in the TIF).
So set Work Offline to foil the latter possibility and change your Security
options to set Active Scripting to prompt.

If that allows you to at least keep a window border in place in a size and
position that is usable, try right-clicking in it and selecting its Properties.
Capture the Address (URL): by doubleclicking anywhere in the URL
press Ctrl-a, Ctrl-c and paste the result somewhere for further analysis.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

 

[BuddhaBelly]

Sorry Guys,
But you did solve my problem. You are correct that it was simply off the
desktop. I retried what was suggested before.
If the button for IE was pushed in on the taskbar I could right click and
select size, move but never saw the cursor so I assumed (yes I know) that is
wasn't working.
This time I right clicked, selected size and dragged my cursor around and
there it was...my missing window way off the screen.
I still don't know how it got there but since I dragged it back onto the
desktop it has worked properly.
Thanks again.
Buddha

 

[BuddhaBelly]

I found out that the pop up from Popular Screen savers is what's doing it. I
have Zone Alarm and still come home to find it sitting there on my screen
and when I deny it access my browser ends up off the screen.