XP Pro SP2 - Tired of hitting "Back"!

[jrdavid68]

Hi guys. I have been browsing the postings and don't see where anybody has mentioned this yet about SP2.

I have loaded SP2 on two laptops and basically everything went off without a hitch.

I do have two annoyances that I can't seem to figure out. One is when surfing with IE and I try to go "Back", I often will need to hit "Back" as many as three or four times before it really goes back to the previous page. What is happening is that the first couple times "Back" is hit, it tries to re-load one of the ad screens/windows on the current page. I notice it the most on sfgate.com. Note: I am using a HOSTS file that blocks all that stuff too - I have not tried going back to a default HOSTS file as I kind of like not seeing that crap.

I also use Mozilla 1.7.1 and do not experience this problem.

The other annoying thing is that when I click on links from within an e-mail in Outlook Express, IE will open to a blank page. I end up copying / pasting the link to get there.

The machines are running great, Adaware, Spybot etc. show nothing.

Thanks again for the great resource.

 

[Saga Lout]

This happens to me sometimes, especially in e-Bay and well before SP2. Try the Refresh button beofre Back. Maybe the page hadn't fully finished loading.

 

[jrdavid68]

Saga - Thanks for the note. Refreshing didn't make any difference.

I actually just deleted the contents of the HOSTS file and the problem went away, however, without the HOSTS file I see all the garbage ads on the screen.

I downloaded a fresh copy of the HOSTS file from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/ but the problem still exists. For now, I would rather live with multiple "Backs" than have all the ads showing up.

Thanks,

 

[Saga Lout]

You can get rid of a lot of the pop-up ads by downloading the Google toolbar, free, at http://www.toolbar.google.com and stopping Messenger in msconfig but if they're getting through your firewall, that's a message you don't want to ignore.

 

[Funkmeister]

Whatever you do, don't install the Google Toolbar. It is almost spyware-like in its nature. And don't be tempted by a GMail account either, you are giving google licence to scan and reference all your email - this is the same as if you send an email to a GMail account. Google store a cookie on your machine (unless you delete it) which allows them to track everything you EVER searched for. Records of this for every Google user are held right back to the beginning of Google existence. Would you normally tell a strange company everything you were trying to find out if they gave you a phone call? Though not so why do we tolerate it online?

Some interesting reading on the subject of Google's unique privacy policy at http://gmail-is-too-creepy.com/.

Get a good proper pop-up blocker - ZoneAlarm Pro removes ads from pages and can either replace with a blank, nothing at all or a clickable area to show the ad if you like plus you get a good firewall thrown in too.

 

[jrdavid68]

Thanks guys. Yep, not interested in the Google Toolbar - I'm already pretty well protected.

Mozilla baby!

 

[Saga Lout]

Interesting comments on Google toolbar, Funkmeister but I have to say my experience of it hasn't been bad. It blocks the pop-ups without resorting to taking Messenger off which never struck me as a wise thing to do. It was, after all, just a messenger and the message was "your firewall doesn't work properly" and when I tired of seeing the advice to Shoot the Messenger (quite literally) I sought out a better alternative. As for G-Mail, I'll take that on board but since I'm unlikely to need another e-mail service, I won't be using it. I can positively say, hwoever, there's been no increase in spam in my box since I put the Toolbar on, three months ago.