Hi all

My PC has developed a really annoying habit. No matter which website I go to I get the message
'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage'. If I click refresh then the page appears.

This is happening on all websites almost all of the time. The page it displays offers diagnostics which i have run but they say there is no problem.

I can't think of any changes I've made which would have caused this (regular updates to firewall, spyware etc only)

Any thoughts on what may be causing this and what I could do to stop it?

Thanks in advance

Andy

Might try clearing your Internet Temp files.

Might also try the Browser History->Settings button->to "Everytime I visit the webpage"

Thanks

My history settings are already set as you suggested.

I do clear down my temp internet files regularly but I will monitor to see if the problem gets worse as the temp files build up.

Ref

Sounds like some kind of file corruption. With something like this I usually do a repair reinstall from the system disk and it straightens it out. Hopefully you have one and not just a restore disk.

Does the problem:
a) Always happen
b) Only happen on pages you have visited before
c) Only happen on pages you have not visited before
d) Only happen on the first page you visit after firing up your browser
e) Something else

It might be worth getting hold of CCleaner, a freeware utility that clears out temporary files and the like.

After installing it, go to Options >> Advanced, and UNcheck the one that says, "Only delete files in Windows temp folders older than 48 hours". Then click on Cleaner (top left) followed by Run Cleaner (bottom right).

Let it run its course and then exit the program. Reboot (certain files cannot be deleted while Windows is running so are marked for removal on the next reboot).

This should improve performance a bit, and even if not, will clear your system of clutter.

Thanks for all the help!

I don't have the system disk for IE as I downloaded IE7 from the Micorosft website when it became available.

There does not appear to be a pattern to the appearance of this message. I cleared the temporary internet files last night but it appeared immediately I went back in to IE.

Of your options Angoid, I think E as it doesn't always happen. It happens on all kinds of pages, those i've visited before and those I haven't - but not every time.

I have CCleaner and run it weekly but I've never dabbled with the advanced settings. I'll give that a go and see what happens.

Thanks again

Ref

Tools->Add Ons have known to cause issues like this.

Would be interesting to see if FireFox works better...I don't use FF, but its an option worth considering.

I meant the Windows XP Operating System disk, not IE7. However, as an alternative you might consider re-downloading Internet Explorer and installing it "over the top". Still sounds like a file corruption to me.

Firefox is working fine which makes me think it is either IE7 or as ranchhand says something on the OS.

Could this be related to another irritant I posted questions about under the XP forum?

Preparing to install issue

Firefox is a much better browser anyway, and invisible to many DirectX adware viruses, IMHO.