COMPUTER HELP-WHY HAS IE8 STOPPED WORKING?

[Stratpicker]

OK - I've got FIREFOX (hence this Post) but tonight IE8 wont let me on the Net. Immediately I kick into my Homepage I get a box that says "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and has had to close". Ta-Ta - and its gone. DOnt get chance to find out what, why, or kiss-my-bum!
I have uninstalled it and re-installed it, I have deleted all TIFs and had CCleaner do a thorough clean out.
What is causing the problem or shouldnt I care seeing as how Firefox is working fine?
Any aSsistance will be frowned upon as being too smart for your own good and acted upon immediately!!
HELP!!
cheers
ian

[Didier]

Why do you need IE8 if you have Firefox ?

Didier

[George Geddes]

Ian

Have a look:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810887

George

[Bob Dore]

IE8 is a Microsoft product.

[Stratpicker]

Didier - I dont NEED IE8. I have Firefox which works fine. I'm just puzzled as to why after all this time, with no updates or changes, IE has gone off.
George - thanks for the Link. Option 2 would be out as I cant actually open IE8 at all. That stupid message appears before I can get at "Tools" etc. In annoyance and frustration I have un-installed it so Option 1 currently is out of the question too.
Bob - I love Irony and I guess your comment says it all.
cheers
ian

[roger bayliss]

Ian try the control panel for 'Internet Options' and try restting a few things and clearing out your history cookies etc/ I had this problem once and manahed to sort it out evenually but blowed if I can remember what I did to get around it soz mate

[jase]

I'd try the system restore tool http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084. I've had similar issues in the past and its sorted it

[Rosemary]

Hi Ian
There could be a number of reasons but this is what I'd do
1. Under Tools - Options - General
have a look at what homepage it's set at. It could just be that particular site causing the problem. Has it changed from what it used to be? If so, change it back to a blank page or to something like http://www.google.com/ or whatever you used to have. Click 'Apply', exit and re-start IE8. If the next time you start the browser a dodgy homepage URL is showing again, there could be a problem that some sort of spyware has 'hijacked ' the browser.

2. If it hasn't changed and you're still having problems I'd then clear out the cache and cookies (from the same menu Tools - Options - General )

3. If that doesn't work maybe it's an Add On causing the problem so you could try Tools - Options - Programs - Manage add-ons and disabling and enabling them to see if that helps.

I'm a Firefox user too and rarely use IE but every now and then a badly designed website or script will only work with IE so it's good to have to fall back on.
Hope this helps
Best wishes
Rosemary

[Rosemary]

Hi Ian
I've just had a thought that you probably can't get into the browser to look at the homepage settings because it crashes the moment you open it and it tries to go to the homepage so you should be able to get around that problem by creating a shortcut on the desktop to a website e.g.
Right click desktop - New - shortcut - http://www.google.com/ (or whatever)
Then if you click on that it should open that page instead of your homepage (assuming IE8 is the default browser)
I have Windows 7 on this machine and can't find the 'Open with' that was on previous operating systems but you could temporarily change the association to IE by Control Program - Programs - Default programs
All the best
Rosemary

[stratmantd]

Have you tried to open IE8 without the add-ons? If it starts up ok then it looks like it is some piece of software that you have installed that attaches to IE8.

As a matter of course, you should remove all the toolbars that seem to be downloaded with all manner of software these days, especially Google Toolbar, this can slow your pc down to a crawl and doesn't really serve any useful purpose.

Another piece of useless software that I have recently removed and speeded up IE8 into the bargain is Groove which comes with Office 2007.

Try to make sure that you have all the updates installed; preventative maintenance is always better than having to fix a problem.

Good luck.