Internet Explorer Crashes on Win XP

dx052

I have an old Dell Laptop which has Windows XP on it. I currently use Firefox which was installed on it when I bought the laptop. when I try and install Internet Explorer it works for a bit then will always crash. Is there anything I can do to resolve this issue??

fwor

Are you fully up to date with SP3 and all Windows Updates?

robmar0se

As XP has IE integrated, you must be trying to upgrade IE. If its very old you may have as little as 256mb RAM - -if you try to install SP3 etc on this it probably would have palpitations!

Check what you have and what you'd like to do; with a model & tag we may be able to advise?

GunJack

robmar0se wrote: »

If its very old you may have as little as 256mb RAM - -if you try to install SP3 etc on this it probably would have palpitations!

with respect, what tosh ! XP SP3 can run quite happily on 256Meg...may not be fastest thing in the world, but still fast enough to give many netbooks a run for their money

XP SP3, with avast and windows firewall, can be sitting at idle with about 16 processes running and using around 120-130 meg commit charge...

robmar0se

GunJack wrote: »

with respect, what tosh ! XP SP3 can run quite happily on 256Meg...may not be fastest thing in the world, but still fast enough to give many netbooks a run for their money

XP SP3, with avast and windows firewall, can be sitting at idle with about 16 processes running and using around 120-130 meg commit charge...

Frankly your comment is unnecessary. If you don't agree, then just ignore my comment.

You make one huge assumption as though the PC is in your possession. As the PC is old it probably is cluttered, it is only, "experts" such asn yourself that believes that your opinion is always right.

Courtesy costs nothing.

GunJack

look, all I was doing was pointing out, for the OP's benefit, that even though the pc may be old and, by today's standards, under-resourced, it needn't be a problem as was implied in your quoted post. Therefore my post was justified. I did begin it with "with respect", so I wasn't looking for an argument, just a healthy debate which could well benefit the OP.

If I didn't comment, there would be no debate.....surely the point of forums/fora such as this IS to have a healthy debate and spread knowledge ???

sorry if you took it the wrong way

robmar0se

Please allow me tio explain the backbround to my original remarks.

I do make one assumption that many OPs on here are not experts, and probably will not want to be constantly making sure there system is working at 100% efficiency, ie you use the system to achieve your day-to-day goals - the PC is not an end in itself.

Most PCs I see as part of my job are cluttered with all sorts of unnecessay stuff which makes them slow and cumbersome.

When XP came out originally, 256mb RAM was quite adequate; when the service packs came out, the size of XP grew which meant the system started to use more virtual memory thus slowing the PC down. One can do much to alleviate this, such as removing necessary programs, getting rid of clutter, defragging the hdd, tc. But, the clutter always builds upagain, so..., as RAM is relatively cheap these days, an increase in RAM will keep you going longer before all this clutter causes slowing down.

It is often said with Windows, that it is now "if", but "when" an RAM upgrade becomes a real benefit.

Lastly, an XP machine with 256mb ram is a rare beast indeed.

GunJack

^^^ can't disagree with any of that tbh.

All I would add to it is that every pc I clean up I always set up the virtual memory and give the owner a written guide (along with installing basic maintenance software, e.g ccleaner, needed over & above the inbuilt windows stuff) on how to keep their pc clutter-free. They can use this if they wish, or not - it's their choice. If the pc would benefit from a RAM upgrade, I'll suggest it and price it up, but again it's their choice if they do or don't.

One thing I would point out in the OP's case here, is that if it's an "old" machine, it may well need DDR which is quite pricey these days compared to DDR2/3, even second-hand on ebay a Gig can go for over £20.

..and yes, a 256 meg machine is rare now, but not unuseable

debitcardmayhem

256MB g..g...g...gordon bennett I used to work with boxes with 4,8 or 16MB and supported 50+users(and a few Virtual Machines on top), ok they weren't P(ersonal) C(omputers) and they used a room bigger than my house to keep them cool. sadly as RAM got cheaper and smaller , so did the brains of the guys who programmed them.

DX052 why do you need to install IE ?

tombruton87

if there is no real reason to have i.e. installed I wouldn't bother. The latest i.e. is a lot more system intensive than i.e 6. however id strongly advise not using i.e. 6 or 7, 8 isn't so bad.

waddler_8

Whether you use it to browse or not - as has been pointed out - IE is integral to the OS in XP and for that reason needs to be kept updated for security if nothing else.