Diagnosing an Internet Explorer Loading Problem.

Published: November 23, 2008, 9:46 am

Updated: November 23, 2008, 10:32 am

I had an interesting little problem when viewing some websites; including the Lottery Post. The web pages took forever to load. I could not understand why some pages would work fine and some would not. Anyway, I found a way to diagnose the problem using Microsoft Internet Explorer. The actual problem turned out to be an Add-On for Internet Explorer. You can Quick Check this by starting Internet Explorer without Add-ons.

Close any Internet Explorer windows that may be open.
Go to your desktop and right click on the Internet Explorer icon.
You can disable the Add-ons by clicking the menu item - Start Without Add-ons.

When you do this, all the Add-ons are disabled and it will be displayed as an information bar at the top of the page view pane. This is to tell you that you are in a diagnostics mode and will show up on each website you visit. If the page you are having problems with loads faster, then one of the Add-ons is causing the problem. You'll have to figure out which one.

Close any Internet Explorer windows that may be open.
Go to your desktop and right click on the Internet Explorer icon.
Menu select - Properties.
Click on the top tab - Programs.
Click on the button - Manage add-ons.
In the drop down menu - Show, make sure it is selected as - Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer.

At this point, you should see a list of all the Add-ons used or once used by Internet Explorer. You will have to go through each one-by-one and disable and try them, or... you can do the reverse, disable them all then enable one-by-one. Use either method to find the one Add-on that is causing the problem. After that, you have to decide if this is an Add-on you can live without or not. In my case, I found that Norton added a control for Phishing that in my opinion was pretty useless, so I disabled it.... well, a little more than that, but that is a little more technical than can be described here.

Hope this helps anyone.

PS: Start Internet Explorer normally when enabling or disabling Add-ons individually.

Entry #396

Comments

Todd - Nov 23, 2008, 10:13 am

Thanks for posting this. Looks like good advice.

jim695 - Nov 23, 2008, 1:27 pm

This is exactly what I've been looking for. Norton slows my machine down so badly that I've considered removing the entire program from my hard drive. Since that would leave me without virus protection, I decided to put up with it. The problem is, I can't use my computer for an hour or more after connecting to the internet; I have to wait in line while Norton checks for updates and configures itself. The machine chunks and whirs and hums and clicks, and when I click on an icon, my computer electronically flips me off and says, "Internet Explorer is ignoring you." The actual message reads, "Windows Internet Explorer - Not Responding," which means the same thing - "I'm busy; go find something else to do for a while." I've tried turning off Norton's Automatic Updates (several times) but, for some reason, it always manages to turn itself back on when I'm not looking.

I paid good money for this computer, and it really irks me that I can't use it when I want to. I answer my emails every day, but the first few take FOREVER to complete, because Norton AV apparently needs all available resources to check for updates. Consequently, I'll be typing away, putting my thoughts into words when I look up and see I no longer have a cursor, and that the last three or four lines of text are missing. So I start clicking on the page, trying to regain control of my computer which, as I mentioned, simply tells me to go screw myself.

If I connect to the internet two, three, four or any number of times in a single day, I'm forced to endure the same delays every time. I use Registry Clean Expert regularly (thanks Todd), and it does help to keep my registry clear of unwanted or useless TSR's that launch on start-up. The biggest problem, though, seems to be the constant and unrelenting updating of my Norton software.

Thanks for the heads-up, JADE.

Jim

LANTERN - Nov 23, 2008, 10:23 pm

I guess about the same for Firefox, which can also have add-ons within add-ons.

Sometimes it is good to have them re-write what you see on the Web pages, other times is not, with Firefox is easy to enable and disable add-ons and there are so many possible ones.

truecritic - Nov 24, 2008, 3:18 am

@ jim695 (or anyone with similar problems)

Norton has been called a resource hog by many and there are a couple of free programs you might want to look into. AVG. http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe
or Avast http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Also, if you are using either Outlook Express or Windows Mail for emails, DO NOT scan them with any anti-virus. Disabling Norton often isn't enough. Usually have to go through and uninstall with a special debris remover from Norton. If you install a different anti-virus, use the custom install and be sure to leave the email scanning
out. Understand, this only applies to email scanning - you should protect your computer with an AV program.

If you need more details, PM me.

JADELottery - Nov 24, 2008, 11:36 am

Also, the Quick Check is only for Internet Explorer 7 and above. If you have Internet Explorer 6 or lower, you'll have to use the second set of instructions only. I just found this on an older system I use. What you may want to do is, disable all the Add-ons then see if it works. If it does, then enable them one at a time to find the Add-on causing the problem.

TigerAngel - Nov 25, 2008, 1:20 am

Okay, it recently started happening to me that it was taking forever for LP to load. Today I got a notice that Java wanted to update, ran that, then LP loaded way fast. So far so good. Thanx for the heads up.

Diagnosing an Internet Explorer Loading Problem.

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