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

Internet Explorer 8.0 users

If you're running Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or later, and see the Compatibility View that looks like a broken page next to the URL bar, as shown in the below example with the red arrow next to it, click this icon. Some pages may not work properly unless compatibility mode is enabled.

Internet Explorer Compatibility

All Internet Explorer users

Tip:  Users running Internet Explorer 7.0 and later will need to press the Alt key in order to access the file menu easily to get access to options such as File, Tools, etc.

  1. Try pressing F5 key to refresh the problem page.
  2. Close all but one Internet Explorer window.
  3. Clear your Internet browser history.
  4. 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 6 gives additional information about disabling and deleting add-ons.
  5. 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.
  6. Restore defaults for advanced Internet options by opening the Tools menu, Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and clicking the Restore Defaults button.
  7. Disable 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.
  8. Close Internet Explorer.
  9. Open one Internet Explorer window and try again.
  10. If the issue persists make sure your Internet Explorer has not been hi-jacked.
  11. Make sure you have all the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows update page.
  12. If you have any third-party popup blockers installed on the computer, try disabling the popup blocker or uninstalling the popup blocker. Some popup blocker programs can cause additional issues with the browser.
  13. Make sure you have all the latest versions of plug-ins installed in Internet Explorer.
  14. 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 recover Windows back to an earlier date.
  15. Finally, if you continue to have issues, consider trying an alternate browser to make sure the issue is not with the web page. Our suggestion would be to try Firefox or Google Chrome.