Reference number: CHIE

Basic Microsoft Internet Explorer troubleshooting.

Issue:

Basic Microsoft Internet Explorer troubleshooting.

Additional information:

This document was created as a location to find basic steps to perform when attempting to troubleshoot problems in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Before following the recommendations in solutions, make sure you have reviewed each of the issues listed on our Internet Explorer page to make sure they do not apply to your issue.

Solutions:

1. Close all but one Internet Explorer window.
2. Clear your Internet browser history. Additional information and help with doing this can be found on document CH000510.
3. Clear any "Unknown" or "Damaged" downloaded programs by clicking the Tools menu, Internet Options, click the Settings button, click the View Objects... button,  and selecting each of the programs that are damaged or unknown and pressing the delete key. If you're unable to delete an object it may be part of an add-on, step six gives additional information about disabling and deleting add-ons.
4. Verify that your Security settings under Tools menu, Internet Options are set to medium at the most. Some web pages may not function properly if the security settings are set too high.
5. Restore defaults for advanced Internet options by opening the Tools menu, Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and clicking the Restore Defaults button. 
6. Disable and/or uninstall all Internet Explorer Add-ons. To do this Click Tools, Internet Options, clicking the Programs tab, and then click the Manage add-ons button. In the Manage add-ons window highlight each of the add-ons and then select Disable or if this is something you wish to delete click the Delete button. Not all programs will have the option to delete, if this add-on is a toolbar, toolbars and many other add-ons are usually deleted through the Add/Remove programs.
7. Close Internet Explorer.
8. Open one Internet Explorer window and try again.
9. If the issue persists make sure your browser has not been hi-jacked by following the recommendation on document CH000578.
10. Make sure you have all the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows update page. Additional information about how to perform Windows updates can be found on document CH000545.
11. If you have any popup blockers installed on the computer try disabling the popup blocker and/or uninstalling the popup blocker. Some popup blocker programs can cause additional issues with the browser.
12. Make sure you have all the latest versions of plug-ins installed in Internet Explorer. A quick and easy method of checking this can be done by visiting our system information tool.
13. If all the above recommendations do not resolve your issue, this issue has recently started occurring, and you are running Microsoft Windows XP, you can also do a system recover back to an earlier date. Additional information about how to do this can be found on document CH000589.