/ missing Internet Explorer

murphydavid

Help please. I just clicked on a google search link on my lap top and instead of going to the site it downloaded a file. I clicked on the same link on my desktop and all was fine. After some experimentation i found that clicking on the link produced a url of
http///picasa.google.com ....on my lap top and
http///picasa.google.com/ ....on my desktop

So I typed in http///picasa.google.com/ on my lap top and that was Ok

I wonder if anyone can tell me how I can get my lap top to put in the missing / for me when I click on a link. Or what else may be wrong.

Thanks


I'm using windows xp and internet explorer on both computers.

penrhyn

What file did it download?
Suggest you do a a virus scan and scan with Malwarebytes Antimalware ASAP.

murphydavid

It downloaded a file called picasa.google.com (I think, although I'm not 100% sure about the .'s (dots)). I deleated it straight away, When I clicked on the link a second time to see if i made a mistake it gave me a dialogue box with 3 options -use internet to find out what kind of file it is - save - and cancel. I selected find out and got this is a MIME file.
I have McAfee internet security on the lap top pre installed and still current so I will do a virus check.

kwikbreaks

It just sound to me like you downloaded a web page but MIME is to do with emails.

By all means do your scan but I think the main problem you had was doing something incorrectly.

What is the actual problem now? Those urls you typed in are invalid - the first / should be a : for them to be correct.

murphydavid

This is exactly what I did - (or do - I have done it 5 times now and same thing every time) Switch on lap-top - put in password - Windows XP starts - click on windows explorer icon on desk top (blue e) - windows explorer starts in home page (acer) - type picasa in the google search window in the google toolbar - get the search results - the first one of which is Picasa 3: Free download from Google. click on that one.
On my desktop I get the correct page.
On my laptop I get a dialog box to download a file.
The url that comes up on my desk top is http://picasa.google.com/
The url that comes up on my laptop is http://picasa.google.com
If I type in the whole url including the missing / on my laptop I get the correct page.
If I type in the url without the / on my desk top it puts the missing / in for me automatically.
Obviously I can click on links on my lap top and then cancel the file download dialouge box then having got the url I can re type it and put in the / and get to the page. But that's no way to surf the web.
As a complete layman It seems to me to be set to steal the web-site's code. rather than run it and display the pages.
My lap top is new and came with all the stuff pre-installed. I think all I can do now is download and re-install internet explorer.
Oh yes and I did originally type /// when it should have been /
Another question.
This new computer is like and advertising board..
I have McAffee 3 months trial and MsOffice 3 months trial that keep on and on asking me to pay for the full version.
I can stop Office and uninstall it (I think)
But how on earth do I stop McAffee. Its a security programme and refuses to switch off and refuses not to start on boot up and refuses to uninstall when it is running and i can't easily find what is starting it. Also I can't install my prefered security programme with McAfee running.
I thought to buy a small cheap LapTop to use on the move. I do not want to do anything fancy or waste my time on it All I want is to surf the web, play a few games, type a few bits MsWorks is fine and look at my photos - hence my attemp to download Picasa.
I just don't have time for this!!!!
While I'm at it, any company that advertises by preinstalling and locking their software into a new computer will never get a penny from me ever.

macman

To remove McAfee use the McAfee removal tool:
http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507.
Then install your preferred AV program.
The reason these programs are pre-installed is that the hardware manufacturers get paid to pre-install them, and this helps to keep down the price of your laptop (or to increase the profits of the manufacturer).

penrhyn

If antivirus software was easy to stop/remove it wouldn't be much good at fending off attacks.

kwikbreaks

murphydavid wrote: »

This is exactly what I did - (or do - I have done it 5 times now and same thing every time) Switch on lap-top - put in password - Windows XP starts - click on windows explorer icon on desk top (blue e) - windows explorer starts in home page (acer) - type picasa in the google search window in the google toolbar - get the search results - the first one of which is Picasa 3: Free download from Google. click on that one.
On my desktop I get the correct page.
On my laptop I get a dialog box to download a file.
The url that comes up on my desk top is http://picasa.google.com/
The url that comes up on my laptop is http://picasa.google.com

I think I have found the answer....

Do you have the same version of IE on both machines? (help/about shows version)

Internet Explorer 6

unsafe

Internet Explorer has many problems. One general problem is that its support for web standards is so lacking and defective that it is does not deserved to be called a browser. In particular, it still does not support XHTML.
XHTML

When you visit an XHTML page, Internet Explorer 6 does not render the page, but tries to download it as a file. If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2, you get an yellow Information Bar that accuses the site of trying to download a file. The site did not such thing, the decision to download the page instead of rendering it is Internet Explorer's own fault.
Internet Explorer is fouling up and falsely accusing XTHML sites. False positives are a serious security blunder, but that is a separate matter. The problem at hand is that Internet Explorer does not show the page.
Internet Explorer 6 does not render the page, but tries to download it as a file. That defective behaviour is a problem, but there are various solutions....

http://www.xs4all.nl/~tamuraj/jones2/MakeInternetExplorerRenderXHTML.html

murphydavid

Thanks KwikBreaks that is exactly what it did. So I was not going Mad as I suspected I might be. However I can't now determine what version I had because during the intervening time I got an automatic update from Microsoft (yellow shield icon) and installed it and now the problem has gone away and now on checking I have version (IE 8).
Also Thanks macman the immediate instructions on your link were obvious and I had already tried that way without successes but then I saw:
IMPORTANT: If your McAfee products were preinstalled by the manufacturer of your computer, ensure that you activate your McAfee subscription before uninstalling.
Well as I didn’t want it, I had not activated it, so I did, a bit of rigmarole, and then it uninstalled OK.
You Guys – what are you like – very helpful that’s what.

Thanks