eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
When I wrote a piece on my experience installing (or trying to install) Internet Explorer 7 on my IBM ThinkPad, I expected a strong response from both the pro-Microsoft and the pro-Firefox parties. I wasnt disappointed.
However, there was some useful input. Read to the bottom of this article to find out how one reader was able to overcome the frozen pad problem by making a few regedit entries.
One caveat here, making changes in regedit can get you into a whole lot of system problems if you dont know what you are doing. Ive edited the comments for length, taken out the profanity and Ive taken out the names of the writers and contact information all in the name of harmony.
Heres a letter that manages to accuse me of everything from being anti-Microsoft to the decline of Western Civilization. It almost made me wish the install had worked.
I am sorry that you are so anti-Microsoft that it literally drips thru all of your writings, but to complain about Microsoft actually confirming that you are legally upgrading a legal copy of a product that they manufactured is just a bit too much for me.
If one elects to run illegally obtained software then do they have any right to complain about the vendor not wanting to support them with yet further upgrades of said illegal products?
Gee, wonder of wonders. An obvious anti-Microsoft writer/editor cant even get Internet Explorer installed properly and he wants to bitch about Microsoft and attempts to fight the growing problem of Piracy. Sorry, but I have hundreds of non-technical (almost computer illiterate) clients who have managed to install that very same Internet Explorer update without nary a problem… Hmm…
Perhaps you would be better at writing about and supporting the “freeware” marketplace instead of the Microsoft marketplace… Whats that, you say there arent enough people willing to pay to support your writing about freeware? Hmmm, and not enough manufacturers willing to buy ads in a publication touting only freeware to pay your bills?
Can we say “HYPOCRITE”, or how about “BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU”. Either describe you to a “T”.
And we wonder why so many young people today have only contempt for the law and certain manufacturers…
Thanks but no thanks, with you as the eWEEK editor in chief I can no longer support eWEEK by recommending it to my clients. I would be too worried that they would start believing all your anti-Microsoft anti-anti-piracy rhetoric and put themselves in danger of violating copyright laws at your behest.
Heres a letter along the lines of the first one, but it at least give me an option of blaming my laptop rather than simply accusing me of bias and incompetence. I wonder if laptops can have hurt feelings?
Regarding your eWEEK article that I read on Sunday the 22nd, you are …
Blatantly anti-Microsoft, your computer is sub-standard, or you are incompetent. Reading your silly report about IE 7, Im not sure which.
Next Page: If IE is a problem, just wait until Vista.
If IE Is a
Problem, Just Wait Until Vista”>
I have installed the updated browser on 4 computers so far—all different in power and abilities—and the installs were completely within reason for time and set up. Not one freeze or misdirection. Your computer must be memory substandard.
I accept the Malicious Software Tool as a precautionary measure, mainly, because I get it once a month in normal Windows updates.
No big deal. And, the Validation tool is not an inconvenience for the extra 15 seconds it takes. Most of the better downloaded security software checks for updates post install. Why not IE 7?
One other key point: Unlike Firefox, I can use this browser out of the box on all the Web sites I travel to without submitting a report to Mozilla or sending E mails to Web sites which STILL do not display properly in Firefox.
IE7 is a much improved browser and a lot more secure than past versions. I also seem to recall reading that Firefox won the most bugs award a month or so ago. Did you report this?
Seems to me that you ought to get IE 7 installed—after you learn the basic restarting protocols, use it, then report on it. Thats the kind of stuff I would be happy to read. Not the usual Mozilla propaganda, but reasonably unbiased reporting.
I like Firefox, too. I have installed and tried the last 2 versions. Its smooth and clean and easy to use.
I dont use it, though, because it still does not display a number of sites that I use, including some Ford Motor Corporate sites and even a simple GeoCities site that I use for my personal page. When they get that fixed, I will definitely try it again.
See, that wasnt too hard. Its easy to be balanced! Another letter didnt bang on me too hard, but also thought that if IE was a problem, wait until I work with Vista.
I read your article on IE 7.0, The Bumpy Road to Internet Explorer 7.0, dated Oct 19, 2006. You told a fairly accurate account of the installation process. While it did seem to take some time to load I had no problems with the upgrade from IE 6.0 and I found IE 7.0 to be very reliable.
Perhaps it was Firefox wrestling with the installation of Internet Explorer … or it was your IBM ThinkPad. One of the worst laptops I have ever had to manage—over 100 ThinkPads and all of them had issues at one time or another. Over 1,000 Dell C series laptops had fewer issues than the IBM ThinkPads.
I think the real problem is going to be Vista. None of my five computers or two laptops can run Vista Beta unless I update video cards and a dozen or more applications. Microsoft has done it once again … they are probably in bed with hardware and software vendors.
The other alternative is to buy a new computer that indicates it is Vista compatible or just wait until the onslaught of agree MS customers drives Gates into submission.
And finally, a letter from someone that ran into the same problems and came up with a fix. Again, beware before you start messing in your regedit!
Glad it wasnt just me that had a problem.
Yes, you had to go into options and turn back on networking (tools, connections, LAN Settings, AutoDetect) as you discovered.
But the Run Once was a bigger problem. If you cant get there, it keeps going back again and again every time you start IE. You actually either have to successfully connect or do the following registry edit and create two new keys:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain]
“RunOnceComplete”=dword:00000001
“RunOnceHasShown”=dword:00000001
This problem apparently existed in the beta and was documented. I cant believe it didnt get fixed before the general release. There is no excuse for that.