New Computer Blues

[dreamshark]

Mostly, I love my new laptop. There's just one little problem and it is driving me nuts. I can find lots of indications online that many other people have had the same problem, but no solutions. It probably doesn't even matter, cause I pretty much hate Internet Explorer.... but every now and then you really have to have it.

Here's the deal. My laptop came with Windows 7 Professional installed, complete with Internet Explorer 10, which worked fine. Until the first time I rebooted, and Windows helpfully installed 60+ Important Updates. After the reboot, Internet Explorer was dead in the water, claiming "This Page Can't Be Displayed." Note that there is nothing wrong with the internet connection. Firefox and Chrome are working fine.

I finally gave up and restored to an earlier checkpoint before the Windows updates and IE immediately started working again. I unchecked the box in IE that says "update automatically" and rebooted. Again with the huge Windows Update. And again, IE was dead. This time IE itself had not been upgraded, but one of the dozens of other updates makes it not work.

I have tried every cockamamie suggestion I found online, and none of them have helped. Once IE is dead it is DEAD. I tried downgrading it back to IE9 and IE8. Didn't matter. With the killer update in the system, IE will not work on Windows 7.

Anybody familiar with this issue?

Comments

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Never mind, I finally figured it out. You probably don't want to know all the trial and error that went into this. The culprit is this update:

KB2957689
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 SP1 for X64

This awful terrible no-good bad destructive "fix" was apparently just released on June 10, which is probably why I couldn't find much about it online.

So I now have Windows auto-update turned off, IE backed down to Version 10, and everything working.

Well, except for the fingerprint reader, which appears to be a piece of junk. But I don't really need a fingerprint reader.

[carbonel]

Huh. I'm on Windows 7, and seesaw between IE 11 and Firefox. No problems with IE at the moment, and I have automatic updates turned on.

I wonder what I'm missing.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

It might have something to do with the order that updates are installed. The scary thing with a new computer is there are always scores, if not dozens, of updates queued up out there and they all install at once.

Or maybe it's the flavor of Windows 7. Mine is Windows 7 Professional.

[carbonel]

Mine is also Windows 7 Professional, so that's not it.

I was wondering why you were getting IE 10 instead of IE 11, which seems to be the current version for non-Windows 8 users.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

My computer came with IE10 installed. On the first Windows Update flurry it got upgraded to IE 11. However, since that didn't work, I restored it back to IE-10 and set it to NOT auto-update. That didn't actually protect it from breaking either. But when I eventually got to a stable state where most of the updates had been applied and IE was working, it was still at IE 10, so I'm leaving it that way.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have never experienced the "really have to have it" nature of IE. Why is that so?

K.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Because some websites ONLY work with Internet Explorer.

This is particularly common with business software, such as the multiple websites we are required to access for HR-related things of the sort that used to be handled by department admins. Or, you know, HR departments.

But you never know when that requirement will pop up. For instance, Thorin has to use IE for his work on Tutor.com.