Windows 7 and IE8 - ignoring hyperlinks

There's a 'bug' in IE8 when running under Win7. These are both pre-installed on the latest Acer Aspire One 532 (in my case). This 'bug' manifests itself in a refusal to action clicks on hyperlinks on web pages. There are other 'bugs' in IE8. It is a moot point how MS missed these. However there are numerous reports on the newsgroups and other forums. Various 'experts' have produced scripts to correct matters. The problem us apparently due to the IE installation processes not registering various dlls. The scripts redo the registration process. Information can be found at:

http://iefaq.info/index.php?sid=1374950 ... artlang=en

The problem is in knowing which script to apply to any one Acer (or other PC / laptop / netbook).

There are scripts for: 32-bit Win & 64-bit IE8 # 64-bit Win & 32-bit IE8 # etc.

It would be useful to know how to tell. My specific netbook is a Acer Aspire One 532 with Win 7 (Starter) and IE8. It has always had this 'bug.' Now I have a solution, but which script should I use? That is what is the Win 7 (Starter) 16 or 32, and what is the IE8 - 16 or 32? How can I tell?

CJB

 

This is the one you require.........

ie8-rereg.zip: for IE7/8 on 32bit-Windows

 

Under Windows 7, simply Right Click on My Computer and select Properties. The "System" Control Panel wil show up. About half way down, you'll see "System Type". Beside this it states either a 32 bit OS or 64 bit.

As for IE8, you only get the 64 bit version under the 64 bit OS. But in the 64 bit, you get both. If it turns out you are using a 64 bit OS and were unaware of this, chances are you'ev been using the 32 bit IE8. Otherwise you actually have to go into your All Programs list to choose "Internet Explorer 64 bit".

I haven't yet heard of any OEM systems shipping a 64 bit OS as mainstream, so chances are you're using a 32 bit Windows 7 with a 32 bit IE8.

 

No need to double post. Topic merged.

 

Thank you everyone. On checking I have 32-bit OS, and 32-bit IE8.

So I located the cmd file and downloaded and unzipped it OK. Then I closed everything down except Windows Explorer. Found ie8-rereg in My Downloads and did a 'right mouse click,' then double clicked on Run As Administrator. I got the following in the CMD window:

==========================

IEREREG Version 1.07 for IE8 27.03.2009
by Kai Schaetzl http://iefaq.info
installs and registers (if suitable) all DLLs known to be used by IE8.
should only take a few seconds, but please be patient

registering IE files
registering system files
correcting bugs in the registry
ERROR: Access is denied. <=========== BUT does this mean that nothing changed?
all tasks have been finished

Press any key to continue . . ..

==========================

I logged out and logged back in - Win 7 would only allow one person to log in - Me - who I presume also has Admin access by default - and then I tried the cdm file again. But I got the same 'Access is denied' message.

And the IE8 problem ignoring links pertains.

What do I do now? Thanks - Chris B.

 

I also had this message from a MS MVP:

Quote "Your problems have nothing whatsoever to do with IE8 or Microsoft and everything to do with having (had) a McAfee and/or Norton application installed at some point in the past. McAfee and Norton applications are notorious for not uninstalling (or upgrading) cleanly.

The "patch" you need is getting rid of all the McAfee and Norton "leftovers" and then correcting the issues they've caused (hopefully) with your IE8 settings." Unquote.

==========================

So it appears that this situation has arisen because

1/Acer pre-installed McAfee as a selling point - but in pre-installing this it corrupted the registry whch has in turn has caused IE8 to fail to action hyperlinks properly (and other problems), and

2/ I stupidly activated McAfee's 60-day trial - which was doubly stupid 'cos I did this after the fiasco of McAfee being widely reported as screwing up millions (billions) of corporate and home installations of XP (et al) by issuing a world wide virus update that included disabling one of Windows system files.

It does appear that McAfee is utterly incompetant - so how can it's products and services be trusted to protect PCs, laptops and netbooks - such as my Acer - when it makes such regular and spectacular screw ups?

And thanks to Acer for pre-installing this rubbish. It has now been smartly uninstalled. But I'm also well p..... off due to the HOURS that has been wasted on this needless problem.

==========================

 

McAfee is definately notorious for screwing with systems, so is Norton/Symantec. I have no idea as to why Acer preinstall the crap, but on each of the websites for the respective applications, they do have a tool to download, which removes nearly all traces of the applications. It wasn't so much that the program was there and corrupting from scratch, but more likely an update for the program from McAfee which shredded your system.

Links to the program websites can be found in this thread

The next thing to do would be to reset your firewall settings. Open up your control panel, open the windows firewall. Now I have the firewall and service for it disabled in favour of another program, so this may be wrong, but in the third tab of the firewall settings, there should be a reset button to erase all firewall settings. So do this then click the OK button to close the firewall settings control panel.

Lastly, open up IE8, goto Tools, then Options, open the Advanced Tab, and click the Reset button. Follow the prompts to completely reset IE8 to all MS defaults. This includes removing addons.

 

Excellent advice - thank you again. The curious thing is that I can't be the only one having such problems - yet no-one has reported it here. Anyway I hope this thread helps others. CJB.

 

Right I've done all the above and cleaned out McAfee entirely. And I've installed MS Security Essentials.

The removal of McAfee also seems to have 'cured' various issues like Media Player 12 crashing with a Server Execution error (apparently caused by IE8's dlls being incorrectly registered), and the issue with the BIOS clock settings continually losing time (or reverting back to the default date/time).

Also I've deleted all the games pre-installed from Oberon and a load of other junk.

And the netbook now flies.

Many thanks to everyone - Chris B.