Solved: IE7 ALWAYS starts off line

In the past few days, IE7 has been starting off line ALWAYS. I realize that it DOES start off line when it was off line PREVIOUS to the start. But I noticed this recent behavior all the time, and experimented by making sure I was on line in the previous session, and it STILL started off line.

Off course, it's a simple matter to click on "Tools" and uncheck "Work Offline" and then go online with a URL, but this is tedious and a bother, especially when it USED to start on line when I had previously been on line.

I can't recall changing any settings recently, but I guess it's possible that I did.

I am looking at my antivirus (AntiVir) and Firewall (Comodo), but I don't really think these can be the cause.

Not a deal breaker, nor something that prevents me from running IE on line if I do "Tools" and uncheck "Work Offline" (that works, thank goodness).

I recently installed Sandboxie, HOWEVER, IE7 exhibits the same flawed behavior even if it's not sandboxed, so I can't really lay this at Sandboxie's foot. It's likely an IE only issue (am going to post on the MS Newsgroup for IE about this), but I posted on the Sannboxie forum because I thought there might be a connection.

I've Googled the issue, and read various solutions from Registry hacks to emptying the browser cache to "repairing" IE. Tried it all, but nothing worked.

I do have the Google Toolbar and that's been implicated in some stuff I've read, so I may try uninstalling it and see if that works. May try a recent restore point too (my OS is XP HE).

But as you can see by my desperation in posting here, I'm pretty much out of ideas short of uninstalling IE7 and trying a reinstall (which I REALLY don't want to do unless it's the last resort).

Anyway . . . thoughts??

 

Try this: Reset Internet Explorer 7 Settings

 

Hey John,

Thanks for that RIES tip, but I was reluctant to try that because I agree with the MS warning for this: "You should only use this if your browser is in an unusable state" and this error really didn't reduce my browser to an "unusable state", just a "bothersome state" . . . sort of like "paininthebuttware".

Plus, I didn't want to have to go back and redo my settings for Security, Privacy, and Zones . . . unless I absolutely had to. Those settings for me have been the result of a lot of trial and error, and I'm not sure I could duplicate them again. One of those suggestions on that RIES page you linked to was to create an "Import Settings" kind of thing for IE7, and I don't think it has that. Does the new beta of IE8 have that feature?

Anyway, it turned out that a restore point I had for Sep25 WORKED!!! So I sort of went around the barn there for a while . . . should have tried that restore thing first. I have absolutely no idea what it was . . . tried a bunch of stuff, and nothing worked 'till I did that restore. I created another restore point right then and there.

Next time something like that happens I may try the restore first. But the restore somehow messed up my AntiVir (Guard service refused to load), so I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling (and then updating) AntiVir, so it wasn't smooth by any means.

But, all is right with the universe now, so until the next time my shorts get tight, I'm OK.

And, it only took me about half a day, so I can now get some sleep. (Would have been much less than half a day if I had tried that restore first . . . duhhhhh . . . good thing it worked though because my next step would have been to try the reset, and then uninstall and reinstall IE7 if the reset didn't work).

 

Thanks for the feedback.


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