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IT Boffins - Browser issues
Hello
I've just picked up a new laptop which is using windows 7.
I'm finding that I can't get into certain websites ... netbank or http://www.openstreetmap.org/ as examples
it pretty much gets half way and hangs ...
I've mucked around with the security settings ... turned off my fire walls and generally stuffed about blindly.
I've just installed firefox, and its improved the speed of accessing the sites that I could previously access ... but no go with the other problem sites.
I thought it may have been a password / login in thing ... but I've added the failing sites to "trusted sites" and in the end I can get on to here, RB, nobmob etc etc
Anybody able to give me step by step instructions on how to change and test alternative settings (treat me as a technophobe that knows just enough to get himself into trouble)...
Thanks in advance
Al
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Install Linux - that should start a flame war!
"I've just picked up a new laptop which is using windows 7."
^^ there is your problem^^
Heya Al,
Firstly, forget about the nay-sayers above! Windows7 is definitely the best incarnation of Windows! I've been using it for about a year now with no issues at all.
Unfortunately your problem could be almost anything. Especially when it come to IE8. If you haven't already cleared your cache, etc, then definitely do that (Tools -> Options -> General Tab, Browsing History, Delete - and select every tick and then click OK).
Failing that, it could also be a plug-in issue (although I'm not sure on what, if anything, OpenStreetMaps uses as far as plug-ins).
But the best option is to forget about all of that, and just install Google Chrome. Without a doubt the best browser I've used so far. Fast, stable, low system footprint, and generally much nicer to use than any others. I used Firefox for many years, but really, it's too much of a RAM hog for me. Go Chrome and you'll never look back!
Hopefully that helps you a little mate.
Chrome is a good choice, but the current Firefox 4 Beta is also very nice and I think faster.
"Windows7 is definitely the best incarnation of Windows!"... erm... that's like saying syphilis is the best STD
Thanks ... I'll try above ... I was trying to avoid installing something else ... as I'm sure its just a settings thing ... but its been a week now and I still can't work it out ... bah
thanks anywho
Al,
Are you using the laptop at home or through some sort of proxy server?
Does the browser actually display anythiing eg "a this site is untrusted" message or just half renders the page and stops?
Just from Home ... I think its a firewall thing, but can't for the life of me find an appropriate option to tick or untick
There are no messages ... it just hangs ... and my attention span isn't enough to just let it run ... which I'll do next. I've turned off the firewall and still no go.
I've let it run for 5minutes and it pretty much just stops. / cycles / hangs (on IE, it doesn't even show the "Done" or the website string at the bottom ... just gives up ... not sure if it was due to my walking away and mashing my head on the near by wall.
My net security is Trend Micro, which came bundled ... but please don't tell me to use something else, unless you've had the same problem and solved it by using something else.
With Chrome ... I can see the connection is really slow ... which I suspect is the firewall stopping something from coming in and then sending back ?? whether its a certificate thing I have no idea (ie, whats a certificate
)
I've now used IE8, Firefox and Chrome ... so I don't its the browswer
The laptop comes with a whole bunch of ASUS stuff which I'm not familiar with, but presume is all ok ... there seems to be some security stuff ... but I didn't want to play with that without help.
bah ...
Are you using DHCP for your network settings - ie the laptop gets it's IP address, gateway and DNS server from your router? Oh - are you using wireless, that could be an issue also?
Heya Al,
I reckon a good starting point would be to run a trace route, as this should let you know where things are getting stuck. To do this, follow the steps below:
Open a Command Prompt window by pressing the Start Button, then "Run", and type "cmd" in the field next to "open". This will open the aforementioned Command Prompt Window (basically and old style DOS window).
You'll first need to gain the IP address of the site, and the best way is to ping the address you want:
Type:
"ping www.openstreetmap.com" (without the quotation marks).
This will give you something that looks like the following text:
C:\Users\Gub>ping www.openstreetmap.org
Pinging www.openstreetmap.org [128.40.168.98] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 128.40.168.98:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
The important part is the IP address listed. To run a trace route, type the following command:
"tracert 128.40.168.98"
This will then trace the path along the lines - it will perhaps tell you where it's falling over. It may also tell you nothing of interest at all
Once you've done it, copy and paste the results here and we'll see if myself or someone here can make any sense of what's happening with the router from your PC.
Gub.
Great idea!
I was thinking that a screen grab of the output from "ipconfig /all" at the DOS prompt might be handy too.
http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/album.php?albumi...
no idea how to attach images post ... starting a new thread
and no idea what the image prefixes are??? sorry Rob I read the input format stuff and got a bit lost
Gab / Joel ... I also realised just now I cut off some of the text (last bits of IP addresses) let me know if I'm more useless then usual
I'll do the ipconfig thing tomorrow morning
bah
This sounds similar to problems experienced when the MTU size on the router is set wrong (typically too large for the link and causing packets to be fragmented.)
I've had this before and some sites would load without problem, others not at all, and some would only load partially.
Do you have any other pc's at home? Are they working ok? Any changes to your Internet access lately? (eg new broadband modem.)
As for how to change the MTU size - it's a simple change on most routers, but they're all different so difficult to explain over this forum.
Have you spoken to your ISP?
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1153
Heya Al,
I can't seem to access that gallery of yours. Rotorburn just tells me I've followed an invalid link.
The MTU idea is also a good thing to check (hell, at this stage everything is worth a look).
it was a router thing, a combination of MTU and some other stuff that the tech bamboozled me with ... thanks for helping a noob out
if nothing else chrome seems pretty good
Al