Windows Vista Question

[Chris G.]

Someone help me out here... I recently bought a new Dell and Windows Vista came with it (save the comments please). Now when I am online, I get this message that will pop up and tell me that Internet Explorer has stopped working. Basically it shuts down all online activity and restarts explorer. It is now becoming a PITA, because it does it routinely when I visit ebay or yahoo (probably more as well).

Is there any way to shut this option off? How can I get it to stop doing this? 

Thanks for the help.

[Finn]

If it stays working long enough try downloading Firefox (http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/).
Its better than IE in every aspect. Not sure why your IE is crashing though, sounds like an install glitch?

[Troy]

I'm using Vista on one of my computers and I've helped a few others who are using it and none have that same issue. Assuming it's an out-of-the-box install I'd say something is messed up internally. Possibly a patch gone wrong? If it's fairly new you may be able to reinstall - which would be faster than troubleshooting and trying to repair it.

Beyond fixing it, I agree that Firefox is a better browser but I have found that Firefox consumes too many resources fairly often so I've been toying with other browsers. IE7 fixed a LOT of the issues I had with previous versions so I use it at times now and I've been using Google's Chrome browser for a little over a week. I've heard the new Opera is really cool too.

Troy

[RD]

funny i have vista on a dell and never had this issue.  i would say its a bad install.  uninstall and reinstall and see if that fixes it.

[472 R/T SE]

I just replaced my 7 year old Gateway with another one.  I only run Firefox and the same thing has happened to me at least once a day for the past 5 days or so. 

Last time I got this in a pop up and had to start over when I visited the Texaco site:



"What is Data Execution Prevention?

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature that can help prevent damage to your computer from viruses and other security threats. Harmful programs can try to attack Windows by attempting to run (also known as execute) code from system memory locations reserved for Windows and other authorized programs. These types of attacks can harm your programs and files.

DEP can help protect your computer by monitoring your programs to make sure that they use system memory safely. If DEP notices a program on your computer using memory incorrectly, it closes the program and notifies you.

See also
Data Execution Prevention: frequently asked questions
Change Data Execution Prevention settings"

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I run FireFox as well for the past 2 years or so & wont look back to IE7....the new version 3.0.1 works great & uses up less resources....

[THE COLONEL]

I have the same problem with Vista, but not as frequent as you seem to have.  It does it maybe once a week or so.

[bakerhillpins]

I have been using vista for over a year with basically no issues what so ever. (I am doomed now that I said that  ) I have had one sound driver that didn't work and I simply rolled it back and that was that. The majority of the time I use Firefox, and sometimes IE7 and have the automatic updates turned on.

One thing that I KNOW helped was that as soon as I received my PC I immediately formatted the HD and clean installed vista to remove all the bloatware that the mfgs install. If you can do it I would highly recommend it. All the crap that the mfgs add always causes problems. My new Dell PC at the office came pre-installed with a bunch of dell bloat that was screwing up Outlook. MS isn't wonderful by any means but its certainly not all their fault.

Google for "clean install vista" and make sure you use a technique that extracts your activation before the wipe and uses it to reactivate your new fresh copy. I will see if I can locate the instructions I used and post them up.

Bryan

[Chris G.]

Thanks for the help. Basically re-installing windows sounds like my main option. That means I gotta pull all the info I already added and put it on an external drive. Grrrr, I never like playing around with that stuff.

[jackel440]

My HP I bought back in feb. does this exact same crap! :brickwall:It does it atleast a couple a times every time i am on the net.I will have a few different pages open checkn prices on stuff comparing and such and then wam! I get the IE failure it must close and restart.
Man I hate computers.But i do like all the magical stuff they bring to life when i surf
If you can figure this problem out please let me know.

[EffinDuff]

you can try applying windows updates to see if there are any IE patchs.

Another is to "reset" the explorer.  Probably one of the best features put into IE.  Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > reset

this will reset to factory defaults.  If you are having the problem on the same web page it may be some bad coding on the page or possibly flash or a plugin thats crashing.  Just something to keep an eye on.

[bakerhillpins]

Thanks for the help. Basically re-installing windows sounds like my main option. That means I gotta pull all the info I already added and put it on an external drive. Grrrr, I never like playing around with that stuff.

Here is the link to the instructions I used to clean install on my Toshiba. Also worked for a few others I know.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=120228

On a side note. Having worked in the engineering world for close to 18 years now I have learned that every couple of years its a good idea to start fresh. One of the habits I have picked up is to dump ALL of my personal files, (Anything I generate for work/play/etc) in one directory tree off of main. That way backups, and cleaning house is easy cuz it is all in one place rather than scattered around in tons of application default directories. The only other issue is exporting settings files for my dev tools but I do that as I am backing up.

YMMV.
Good luck