"Internet Explorer has Stopped Working"

[invader]

In it's eternal quest to piss me off, this operating system is now having
trouble with internet explorer.

I'm getting "Internet Explorer has stopped working" randomly when I type URLs
in the url box. This usually happens right after I launch IE. I start typing
the URL and when I'm about half way through, it pukes up the error message
and dies. No further information. No 'windows is searching for solutions'.
Nothing.

The problem is intermittent, maybe 10-20% of the time.

AFAIK *I* did not change anything recently (but of course there were
Microshit updates being installed by windows update tuesday/wednesday).

Is anyone else experiencing problems?

Does anyone else think that the IE7 and Vista development teams are secretly
trying to tilt the world over to Firefox by producing consistently buggy
software?

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

In it's eternal quest to piss me off, this operating system is now having
trouble with internet explorer.

I'm getting "Internet Explorer has stopped working" randomly when I type
URLs
in the url box. This usually happens right after I launch IE. I start
typing
the URL and when I'm about half way through, it pukes up the error message
and dies. No further information. No 'windows is searching for solutions'.
Nothing.

The problem is intermittent, maybe 10-20% of the time.

I know of three causes for the vast majority of such problems:
1. Incompatible add-ons: What if you right click the IE icon on the desktop
and choose Start Without Add-ons?
Or go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Internet
Explorer (No Add-ons).

2. Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
Scroll to the bottom and click Reset Internet Explorer Settings.

3. Malware already installed on the computer: Help with malware
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing Messenger Plus, whose ads for
malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince you that you
owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

As with any IE problem, the very first thing to do is to clear your Internet
Temporary Files: IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Browsing
History -> Delete -> Temporary Internet Files. This can rectify a multitude
of strange IE crashes. But if this doesn't help, your problem is probably
caused by an incompatible add-on to Internet Explorer (rather than by IE
itself).

I had a very similar problem in IE, which turned out to be caused by the
Adobe Flash player add-on. Many websites use Flash for advertising etc (not
to mention YouTube so you can easily end up with the Flash Player
installed, and not really realise it. Some Flash-using pages would load
okay; then, for no obvious reason, as the next page began to load, the whole
IE window would go white, and IE became totoally unresponsive. I usually had
to kill IE from the Task manaager, after this happened.

IE crashing due to the Flash player is a very active topic of discussion
over in Adobe's Flash Player forum,
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?catid=184&forumid=44

I've had a case open with Adobe for about 6 weeks. So far, they have not
provided any solution (although they acknowledge there's a problem). In the
meantime, I've totally disabled Flash on my PC by adding a "Compatibility
Flags" registry value of 0x400, as described in this article:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/noflash.htm
Since I did this, Internet Explorer has been rock solid. Before that, IE
crashed about once a day. This will totally disable all Flash, including
download prompts, everything. It's as though Flash never existed, it's
wonderful. You won't be able to use YouTube, however.

O'course your problem could be some other add-in. Try disabling them one by
one, in IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Programs -> Manage add-ons.

Hope it helps
Andrew

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

If Frank and Andrew's solutions don't help, you should include the problem
reports as detailed in your Problem Reports and Solutions center--
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#bucket
, which should have more data about the failure which others could
potentially use to diagnose the issue.

-Zach

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 16:32:10 -0700, "zachd [MSFT]"

Sorry, I'm late to thread...

If Frank and Andrew's solutions don't help

....so I may re-cover what they said, but I'd try the following:
- IE7 in "safe mode" (look in Accessories for the shortcut)
If that works OK, then:
- IE7's Tools, Options, Programs, Add-ins; disable what you see
If that works, then add back one at a time ("test to break")

Else, there may be something that's hooking elsewhere into the system,
and Windows Defender may help you explore that.

It's tempting to suggest disabling DEP for IE, but that might convert
a protective "...had to close" into a successful exploit.