Expert: Brian Benosky - 8/18/2009

Question
QUESTION: Brian, I am having some issues with my laptop.  I have Windows Vista Home Premium with a 64 bit operating system and I use Interner Explorer 8.

I have keep getting a message that "Internet Explorer has stopped working".  This usually happens when I am playing a game and go from full screen to a small screen.

I have cleared the cache.  I also followed the trouble shooting guide for internet explorer and reset all internet explorer settings.  After doing this I did restart my laptop but, I am still having the same problem.

Any ideas???

Thanks
Pam

ANSWER: Hi Pam

Sounds like it might be a driver issue.  You don't give any hardware details, but try the website for your laptop brand.  Look on their support pages for driver downloads.  Install any updates that are newer than the ones on your system.  You can check the driver version numbers by opening your device manager and checking each hardware listing.  Particularly, I would look for updated graphic card drivers.  If you are fully updated and still having the problem, we can check the crash logs to see what's going on.  Open the event viewer by clicking Start->Control Panel->Performance Information and Tools->Advanced->View Performance Details in Event Logs.  Check for any warnings or error events.  If there is something you are unsure about, just let me know and I will help you sort it out.

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have an HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr.  I checked the HP website for updates, I updated the graphics card everything else looked alright.  I have re-installed adobe.  I looked at the performance details and did not see any warnings or error events just a lot of stopped working or stopped working and was closed.  I also get the display that Internet Explorer could not connect to the web page (like you get when you do not have internet access).

Thanks for your help.
Pam

ANSWER: Hi Pam

After updating the drivers, did the "Internet Explorer has stopped working" crash occur, or can you not connect to the internet at all?  Have you tried loading IE without Add-Ons?  Perhaps one of your plug-ins is causing the problem.  Click Start-> All Programs-> Accessories-> System Tools-> Internet Explorer (no Add-ons). This opens up IE without ActiveX controls and browser extensions.  If it runs fine, then try to determine which one is causing the problems.  To access your installed add-ons, click on the Tools menu and select Manage Add-ons from the drop-down menu.  In the Manage Add-ons window you can control which extensions, toolbars, etc. IE8 is using.  

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Just wanted to say Thank You.  I did what you suggested to locate the problem.  I enabled Adobe PDF Link Helper and I am not having anymore problems.  

Thanks Again
Pam

Answer
Hi Pam

You are most welcome for the assistance, I'm glad you got it sorted out.  And thank you for the kind words and ratings.  Being able to help good folks like you makes it worthwhile.  If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  Cheers!

Brian