General troubleshooting, Internet Explorer

General Troubleshooting
This document provides troubleshooting recommendations for issues encountered with Internet Explorer 7 running on Windows XP.
Objectives
● Discuss new Internet Explorer features and functionality.
● Discuss potential user issues with IE7.
● Discuss changes to standard troubleshooting practices on Internet Explorer 7 as compared with Internet Explorer 6.
● Demonstrate techniques for running a safe configuration of IE7 to troubleshoot issues with browser stability or problems with add-ons.

Overview
The following resources provide overview, features and usability information on Internet Explorer 7.
Technology Overview: Microsoft® Windows® Internet Explorer 7
This paper provides a technical overview of Internet Explorer 7.
Objectives:
● Discuss new security features implemented in Internet Explorer 7.
● Discuss the Phishing Filter in IE7 and demonstrate configuration options for this security feature.
● Identify usability and functionality enhancements in Internet Explorer 7.
Reference:
1. Source: Technology Overview: Microsoft® Windows® Internet Explorer 7* 

2. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx? FamilyId=B2AC8F30-2D88-45B6-90AE-ED266161F463&displaylang=en <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B2AC8F30-2D88-45B6-90AE-ED266161F463&displaylang=en>  

* © Microsoft Corporation / Updated January 2006 for Beta 2 
Key Points
This document covers the changes in Internet Explorer 7, including the following, which are the most significant for home users:
● Security and privacy features such as warnings when non-default security settings are in use, and the Phishing Filter
● New usability changes such as tabbed browsing, printing changes, RSS feeds
Internet Explorer 7 Release Notes
The release notes for Internet Explorer 7 describe known issues related to the browser.
Objectives:
● Discuss application compatibility issues identified in the release notes.
● Discuss other potential support issues identified in the release notes.
Reference:
3. Source: Release Notes for Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview* 

4. <http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/releasenotes/default.aspx>  

* © Microsoft Corporation / Updated January 2006 for Beta 2 
Key Points
Phishing Filter in the Internet Explorer 7 Help
The help documentation accompanying Internet Explorer 7 provides overview and how-to information on Internet Explorer features and functionality. The help content related to the new Phishing Filter is particularly helpful in understanding how this security feature should be used.
Objectives:
● Discuss the Phishing Filter Frequently Asked Questions.
Reference:
5. Source: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Help* 

6. From the Contents select: 7. Phishing, Viruses and other Internet Threats 8. > Phishing Filter: frequently asked questions 

* Microsoft Internet Explorer Help 
Key Points
The Phishing Filter in Internet Explorer helps protect you against phishing threats by analyzing web sites and warning you when a site has some characteristics of a phishing site. The filter is also updated to protect against sites that have been reported to be malicious.
Troubleshooting Tools
This section provides information on several new features of Internet Explorer 7 that can be used while troubleshooting user issues.
Delete Browsing History
The Delete Browsing History option provides a single point of access to clear all of the user data types saved by Internet Explorer by default. You can access the Delete Browsing History interface from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, or by pressing Delete in the Internet Options interface.
Use the Delete Browsing History while troubleshooting a user issue to resolve issues that could be caused by corrupt or damaged data files that are used by Internet Explorer.
Note: You should inform your user that saved passwords and cookies will be deleted. Cookies are used by many web sites to store site identity and passwords. If the user needs to save some of this information you should offer assistance exporting Cookies and provide a caution that locally saved passwords will be cleared.
Internet Explorer No Add-ons Mode
Internet Explorer No Add-ons Mode provides an Internet Explorer process environment free of ActiveX controls, Browser Helper Objects and other third party code that could contribute to issues with the browser. Use this mode with a user to determine if a problem is being caused by code loading in the Internet Explorer process.
If the issue not present when running in No Add-ons mode you can use the Manage Add-ons interface to isolate the specific add-on components that are contributing to the issue. To do this:
1. Open Manage Add-ons.
2. Set the Show setting to “Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer”.
3. Disable half of the components listed here, then start Internet Explorer normally and check for the issue.
a. If the issue is still present, re-enable the components currently disabled, and then disable the other half. The problem should be present after this test.
b. If the issue is no longer present, re-enable small sets of components, testing for the issue after each set until you determine the add-on or add-ons that are causing the issue.
c. Note the name and file of the isolated component. If it is an ActiveX control, use the Delete ActiveX option in the Manage Add-ons interface to remove it.
d. If the component is not ActiveX, search for and rename the file in Windows Explorer.
Reset all Defaults
One of the most significant new features of Internet Explorer 7 that impacts support and troubleshooting is the Reset all Defaults option on the Advanced tab of Internet Options. Understanding the impact of this tool before using it on a support call is very important to ensure that you can make your user aware of the consequences.
Significant issues encountered with versions of Internet Explorer often resulted in the need for replacing files, re-registering DLLs, and disable ActiveX Controls, toolbars and other Browser Helper Objects. Reset all Defaults in Internet Explorer 7 provides an automated method of performing these actions.
The Reset all Defaults tool performs the following steps:
● Clear user data:
○ History
○ Temporary Internet Files
○ Web form information
○ Saved passwords
○ Typed URL history in the Address bar
○ Run Most Recently Used (MRU) addresses and commands
○ Cookies.
● Reset user configuration options such as the Home Page, Privacy configuration.
● Reset Security configuration to defaults.
● Disable all 3rd party ActiveX controls, toolbars and Browser Helper Objects
● OEM/IEAK settings restored from the branding.cab file, if it exists
● Removes and Rebuilds the following registry keys:
○ HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
○ HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
● Resets all settings for Internet Explorer to the default settings per the inetcpl.cpl

Potential Issues and Troubleshooting
Potential user issues with Internet Explorer 7 could relate to issues displaying web pages, problems running Internet Explorer, or issues with new features, such as RSS feeds. Issues in these and other categories are addressed in the sections that follow.
Internet Explorer 7 not Recognized by Some Web Sites
This issue could appear as many error messages, depending on how particular web sites report the problem.
Cause
Web sites often check the web browser product name and version to determine if your browser is compatible with their web site, or to provide a certain experience on the site. Some sites support only a limited set of browsers and versions, and in those cases Internet Explorer 7 may not be in the supported list. You may be unable to browse to the site with this version.
Note: This is very common with bank web sites and other sites that provide access to very sensitive information. To ensure best compatibility and confidentiality they may restrict logon to their web applications from unsupported web browsers.
More Information
The browser reports its version information using a value called the “User Agent String”. Internet Explorer sends the following User Agent String to a web site it is accessing:
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0b; Windows NT 6.0)
Web administrators and developers must either not perform user agent string-based validation, or update their validation to permit access to their site by Internet Explorer 7.
Resolution
Considerations for resolving this issue are as follows:
● If you encounter such an access issue, it is generally recommended that you contact the web administrator or support for the web application to determine the best course of action.
● If you encounter the issue while running a pre-release or Beta version of Internet Explorer, the web administrator may be unable to support the browser version you are using.
● If the problem cannot be resolved you can modify the version Internet Explorer reports to web sites in the User Agent String, but doing so can cause problems or errors in the communication with web sites. You make this change at your own risk.
Changing the User Agent String
If you need to change the user agent string that Internet Explorer 7 reports, you can modify the following registry values:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent
“Version”=”MSIE 6.0″
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform
“SV1″=”"
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Version Vector
“IE”=”6.0000″
Important: You should caution your user that they must make this change at their own risk. In making this change they face potential issues and errors when accessing sites not written for or tested with the browser version they are using.
Issue with IE7 Beta that does not occur in IE6
In situations where a feature or component of Internet Explorer, or a particular web site does not function the same on Internet Explorer 7 Beta as it did on Internet Explorer 6, it is important to evaluate the issue and communicate it as a potential problem to your Microsoft contacts.
1. Evaluate the issue a user reports by testing it on another computer with Internet Explorer 6 installed.
a. Does IE6 behave the same as IE7?
b. If you encounter the same behavior on IE6 as the user sees on IE7, it is not a new issue, and thus does not need to be reported as part of the Beta.
2. If IE7 behaves differently than IE6:
a. Is the issue with a web site?  If so, communicate the URL of the problem page to your Microsoft contact. If the page cannot be reached directly, provide the site URL, and specific steps to generate the problem.
b. Is the issue with an Internet Explorer feature or component? If so, write a description of the steps to reproduce the problem and communicate that information to your Microsoft contact.
Internet Explorer Cannot Display the Webpage
This section describes the troubleshooting for problems displaying web pages. The new information page displayed when this problem occurs contains the text:
Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
Troubleshooting for these issues is similar to the troubleshooting for a Page Cannot be Displayed issue in Internet Explorer 6.
Cause
Potential causes of this issue are the same as those outlined in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
Error message when you try to access a Web site in Internet Explorer: “Page Cannot Be Displayed” (326155)
From the article:

9. The problem may occur for many reasons. These reasons include, but are not limited to, the following:  ● Connectivity issues or network-related issues, including the following: ○ A conflict with the firewall or a firewall configuration issue  ○ Issues with network drivers  ○ Issues with winsock or TCP/IP  ○ Erroneous entries in the Hosts file  ● Third-party party software or Internet connections settings issues, including the following: Issues with the Startup files or other potential service conflicts  ○ User Account corruption  ○ Malicious software has been installed  ● Internet Explorer configuration settings, including the following:  ○ Internet Explorer is not optimized  ○ Internet Explorer has conflicting or inappropriate settings  ○ Conflicts with third-party party browser extensions  ○ Problems with DLL files or use of unregistered DLL files  ● Damaged of missing core Windows files 

Resolution
Troubleshooting these issues with Internet Explorer 7 installed is made easier due to the presence of the Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) mode, the new Delete Browsing History option, and the Reset all Defaults recovery feature. Following the process recommended by the article referenced above, you can use the troubleshooting as follows:
● Where to start
○ Test other known good sites
○ Verify connectivity
○ Run the Network Diagnostics Tool
■ If you do not receive errors related to the IP Address and DNS Server, it is likely that your connectivity is functional. Skip to Section 2.
■ Otherwise, use Section 1 steps in the article to troubleshoot connectivity or other network issues.
1. Section 1: Connectivity issues or network-related issues
This troubleshooting remains unchanged from what is recommended for Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6.
2. Section 2: Third-party software or Internet connections settings issues
Troubleshooting in this area benefits from the Delete Browsing History and the No Add-ons mode of Internet Explorer 7.
a. To start this troubleshooting, use the Delete Browsing History option in the Tools menu. This clears the Temporary Internet Files, History and saved forms data.
b. The new first recommended step for this section is to test in Internet Explorer (No Add-ins) mode. You can start this from Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Internet Explorer (No Add-ins).
i. If this mode resolves the issue, use Manage Add-ons to isolate the browser add-on or add-ons that are contributing to the problem.
ii. If this mode does not resolve the issue, continue troubleshooting with the following steps.
c. Part 1: Test in Safe mode with Networking
d. Part 2: Clean boot Windows XP
e. Part 3: Test by using a new user account
f. Part 4: Run antivirus software and antispyware software
3. Section 3: Internet Explorer configuration settings
Troubleshooting in this area benefits from the Reset all Defaults option in Internet Explorer 7.
a. The new troubleshooting step recommended for this section is the use of the Reset all Defaults option on the Advanced tab of Internet Options.
This is a new resolution step that performs all remaining tasks previously recommended in this section.
Important: After performing a Reset all Defaults in Internet Explorer 7, all browser add-ons are set to Disabled in Manage Add-ons. This ensures that previously installed add-ons will not be running after the reset, but will also mean that desirable components will need to be re-enabled. Reinstalling a browser add-on will not typically re-enable it in this interface, so it will not be functional until that step is taken manually. 
Note: Re-registering Internet Explorer files should not be needed on Internet Explorer 7. The Reset all Defaults action takes the place of this as a troubleshooting step. In the event of more catastrophic problems that the reset does not resolve you can also uninstall and then reinstall Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP to ensure that it is properly installed.
4. Section 4: Damaged or missing core Windows files
This troubleshooting remains unchanged from what is recommended for Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6.
a. Part 1: Run System File Checker
b. Part 2: System Restore
Internet Explorer Terminates Unexpectedly or does not Start
This issue category deals with problems in which the Internet Explorer process is terminating or not starting properly.
Cause
There is a possibility for user issues related to stability problems that result from problem add-ins, damaged files, problem configuration or corruption. Unlike previous browser versions
Resolution
To troubleshoot browser stability issues, use the following steps:
1. Test with Internet Explorer starting on a blank home page.
a. Click Start, Run and then using the following command:
iexplore about:blank
b. If Internet Explorer starts without a problem, go to Internet Options and verify the home page. Note the current setting and then click Use blank to set the default to “about:blank”. Test by opening the browser normally.
2. Use the Delete Browsing History option in the Tools menu and test again. This clears the Temporary Internet Files, History and saved forms data.
3. If a blank home page does not resolve the issue, try starting Internet Explorer in No Add-ins mode.
a. Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-ins).
b. If the problem is not present in this mode, use Manage Add-ons to isolate the specific add-on or add-ons.
c. If the problem is still present, continue with the remaining troubleshooting.
4. Test while logged on as an alternate user. This will help isolate problems specific to one user account or user profile.
5. The next new troubleshooting step recommended for this section is the use of the Reset all Defaults option on the Advanced tab of Internet Options.
This is a new resolution step that performs all remaining tasks previously recommended in this section.
Phishing Filter Issues
The Phishing Filter in Internet Explorer 7 has the potential to generate user questions, particularly around the reporting mechanisms for phishing sites, as well as the methods for following up when a user’s site is identified as a reported phishing site.
Site Misidentified as Suspicious or as a Reported Phishing Site
In the event that a known trustworthy site is identified as suspicious, you can use the Report this Website feature to identify to Microsoft that the site is not a phishing risk. These reports are used to identify categorization issues.
Report a Phishing Site
If you are on a website that you suspect is a phish, you can report it to Microsoft. This helps protect the rest of the Internet Explorer user base from the phishing attempt.
To report a site to Microsoft, use the Report This Website option in the Tools, Phishing Filter menu in Internet Explorer.
RSS Feed Issues
Import and Export Feeds
In the event that you need to migrate feeds from one user account or machine to another you can use the File, Import and Export option in Internet Explorer.
Exported feeds for a user are saved as a single feeds.opml file, by default in the user’s My Documents folder.
An example exported feeds.opml file showing one entry will be in a format as follows:
<opml version=”1.1″><head><title>Feeds</title></head><body><outline text=”Internet Explorer Team Blog” xmlUrl=”http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=58643” type=”rss”/></body></opml>
Additional entries would be included in this file as separate <outline> tags in the same format as the Internet Explorer Team Blog entry shown above.
This is an Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML) file, which is defined in the OPML specification available from <http://www.opml.org/>.
Feed Not Updating
Cause
This problem could result from connectivity issues with the feed server, a frequency in the properties for the feed that is too long, or a problem with the local feed cache.
Resolution
To resolve an issue with a feed not updating, perform the following steps:
1. First, check the feed on the host site to ensure that the server side feed is updating properly.
2. Check the properties of the feed in Internet Explorer and verify that the desired update frequency is set.
3. If the issue is not related to the frequency, manually refresh the feed to see if the contents change.
4. If you still encounter problems with the feed, export all feeds on the machine, use the “Feeds not Listed or Cannot Subscribe to Feed” troubleshooting in the section below.
Feeds Not Listed or Cannot Subscribe to Feed
Cause
Problems subscribing to new feeds, or an incomplete feeds list could result from corruption in the feed storage, user profile issues, or issues related to browser add-ons.
Resolution
To resolve issues with missing feeds, or problems subscribing to new feeds perform the following steps:
1. Add a feed from an alternate, known-working site, such as:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/rss>
2. Logon as different user and test.
3. Test in Internet Explorer No Add-ins mode. If the problem is resolved in this mode, use Manage Add-ons to isolate the specific browser add-ons that are contributing to the issue.
4. If the problem continues in Internet Explorer No Add-ons mode, clear the feeds and re-import using the following steps:
a. Export the feeds on the machine.
b. Delete all feeds by closing Internet Explorer and deleting the files in %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Feeds.
c. Open Internet Explorer and add one feed for a known-working site, such as:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/rss>
d. After verifying that the known-working feed is working, import the previously subscribed feeds.