Sick of IE7 updates seem to break it

[Simreaper]

OK the first thing I noticed was a while back when you right clicked and asked to open a link in new tab, it used to open the requested in link in a new tab next to the current tab now since an update it no longer works now asking that same question opens the link in a new small window.

Now it seems after yet another update it now often freezes on first opening of IE7 or if you've got more than two tabs opens, or have a second window open it freezes and says "it's searching for a solution", then just restarts no solution is ever found and when you check Problem Reports and Solutions, guess what it doesn't even register in there as a problem. For goodness sake what is going on there is no spyware/malware/adware/viruses on my computer and a friend who has a month old computer has experienced the exact same problems.

Come on this is getting ridiculous it will freeze for no reason numerous times one day then go a few days and not freeze at all and to do this on a brand new computer tells me it's a Microsoft problem yet they supposedly don't even bother to register it as a problem.

Am seriously considering asking a friend to talk me through installing Firefox as at least this doesn't constantly freeze with no apparent reason, do prefer IE but getting sick of it freezing and having to use taskmanager to shut it down and getting locked out of my email inboxes if it chooses to freeze when checking my online email inbox. I know I'm not alone as searched internet and loads of complaints does anybody know how to fix this apart from find a way to disable IE7 and install Firefox or one of the others?

[Glenny]

1. Pull the drive and slave it in a computer running a working install of XP/Vista. Depending on the target drive's characteristics, you may need a drive adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE or a SATA controller card, etc. A usb/firewire external drive enclosure works very well, too. Use the working Windows Explorer to copy the data to the rescue system's hard drive and then burn the data to cd or dvd.

2. Often XP/Vista will not boot with a slaved drive that has a damaged file system. In that case, boot the target computer with either a Bart's PE or a Linux live cd such as Knoppix and retrieve the data that way. Here is general information on using Knoppix for this:

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. If you want to burn CD/DVDs, use the K3b program.

[JonathanD]

Run Internet Explorer 7 in 'No Add-Ons' mode:If you have Vista: Start > type Internet Explorer in the Start Search box > click Internet Explorer (No Add-Ons)Alternatively, you can create a shortcut on your desktop with the following target path:"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff.If no problems occur in 'No Add-Ons' mode, the problem is caused by one of the add-ons that load together with Internet Explorer 7.Problems with Internet Explorer can also be caused by the presence of viruses or other malicious software.

[Simreaper]

1. Pull the drive and slave it in a computer running a working install of XP/Vista. Depending on the target drive's characteristics, you may need a drive adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE or a SATA controller card, etc. A usb/firewire external drive enclosure works very well, too. Use the working Windows Explorer to copy the data to the rescue system's hard drive and then burn the data to cd or dvd.

2. Often XP/Vista will not boot with a slaved drive that has a damaged file system. In that case, boot the target computer with either a Bart's PE or a Linux live cd such as Knoppix and retrieve the data that way. Here is general information on using Knoppix for this:

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. If you want to burn CD/DVDs, use the K3b program.

Sorry only computers I have are both vista with same problem and both are set up for auto windows updates and all this started after some updates and it's not just mine as every tech board you look at look for IE7 and you'll see the same freezes-solution hunts-never finds-restarts. I used IE7 keeps not responding and then restarts in Google last night and came up with page after page after page of replies so it's not just me Micorsoft have done something to it with an update as even their own community forum has loads of complaints with same issue so all that tech talk(which goes way over my head as I'm not technically trained and am a basic user who can install/uninstall programs fix basic problems that's it) so can't think doing any of this, if even knew how to do it would help considering the probably millions of similar complaints that are on the internet would fix it but thanks for the help and will send your reply to a tech friend(have couple who are tech support people, one who is a troubleshooter for the company he works for and see if any of them can explain this to me in a way I can understand) also at least one of them has the same issue as we were chatting on msn when they disappeared and came back sorry "stupid IE froze again with no solution" and if his does it and he's a tech support whose got loads of security etc on his computer must be an IE problem as a friend who uses firefox has no issues unless she has to use IE7 for a page and after a few minutes it froze but she couldn't open the page using firefox and it took her three attempts to get the page to work. Thanks for your reply though.

[Simreaper]

Run Internet Explorer 7 in 'No Add-Ons' mode:If you have Vista: Start > type Internet Explorer in the Start Search box > click Internet Explorer (No Add-Ons)Alternatively, you can create a shortcut on your desktop with the following target path:"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff.If no problems occur in 'No Add-Ons' mode, the problem is caused by one of the add-ons that load together with Internet Explorer 7.Problems with Internet Explorer can also be caused by the presence of viruses or other malicious software.

Thanks I've already tried this and run both computers through online scanners(have Norton Internet Security 2008 fully up to date) and there are no viruses/malware/adware/spyware or anything on it, get no pop up's all over my screen, loads and shuts down exactly same as it always have done are both fairly fast computers, desktop and laptop both have Intel 2. something processors, 3GB RAM and run as fast as they always have done since day bought them and are fine except can use IE7 for few days with no problems then another day it will just go mad and freeze on first opening or maybe after a while surfing. On the acutal microsoft community one thread I joined in said one day it was working fine and the next day it had some updates, then they didn't use computer for a couple of days as went away and when came back some more updates went on and since then the open tab next to current tab option when you right click for this choice had ceased to work and not long after that the freezing and never finding a solution started and I posted the same thing happened to mine and were loads of similar postings so can't think we all have same add ons if you can see my point, am tempted to ask friend how to install firefox and if can disable IE7 as driving me insane as never know from one day to next whether it will be a surf all day with no problem day or an every other page freeze day

[Simreaper]

OK fingers crossed uninstalled flash player and turned pc off and then downloaded latest one and touch wood, cross fingers and everything else so far no freezing of IE7 so maybe it was a glitch in flash player that wasn't always showing up as disabled each add on one by one and not one of them would recreate the freeze but touch wood been on and off net most of yesterday and today and so far no freezing, however not had any windows updates yet but all the sites it used to freeze on frequently so far have been fine could it be something as simple as a flash player update......