Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Weird Internet Explorer problem!

Something really stranged has happened to my computer within the past couple of hours. I use IE 5 (yeah, I know...I am hopelessly out of date, but it has all my bookmarks and preferences and I like the way it functions much better than any other browser I've tried...). A little while ago I was doing some surfing and I guess something I did--some page I visited?--caused my Command key to be tied in to Subscriptions. I don't understand how this could be, but it's true. If I want to do something like copy + paste, or something else I might normally use the Command key for, I can't do it. Instead, my pushing the Command key causes a window to pop up asking if I wish to subscribe to the site in question. (Actually, at first, whenever I pushed Command, my subscriptions were updated, so I went in and deleted all my subscriptions, but that didn't take care of the underlying problem.)

I am not particularly computer literate. For instance, I can't even tell you what the bar across the top of my screen is called (the one that starts on the left with the Apple logo, followed by File, Edit, View, Go, etc.). But I can tell you that that bar, when I'm in IE, is fouled up. After "Go," there is a bunch of garbled stuff that reads, approximately (I can't type all the symbols), "p[symbols]>Favorites[symbol]AddPagetoFavoritesD[checkmark]OrganizeFavorites[bu nch of other symbols ending in a black apple]Update Su." Then the bar continues with Tools, Window, and Help. When I click on that bar and the dropdown menu appears, it is some weird, mangled, unusable version of my bookmarks. However, if I use the Favorites tab on the left side of the window, my bookmarks are there and usable.

I've poked all around in Help and Preferences and, not surprisingly, cannot find any way to undo this. (I'd be amazed if I actually found something telling me what to do if my Command key brings up my subscription window!) It's really unfortunate because, as I said, I like IE and this is making it pretty hard for me to use it, since I can't do anything involving the Command key.

Have any of you ever encountered this? It is about the weirdest thing my computer has ever done!

imac Mac OS 9.2.x IE 5

Posted on Jan 28, 2006 10:21 PM

Reply
12 replies

Jan 28, 2006 10:43 PM in response to hamstergrrl

Hi, hamstergrrl -

Welcome to Apple's Discussions.

I can't even tell you what the bar across the top of my screen is called (the one that starts on the left with the Apple logo, followed by File, Edit, View, Go, etc.).

That is called the Main Menubar. The term "Main" is used to differentiate that one from menubars which may be available within the window of a program, such as IE and AppleWorks have.

I still use IE 5.1.7 - it does what I want a browser to do, so haven't changed to something else.

"p[symbols]>Favorites[symbol]AddPagetoFavoritesD[checkmark]OrganizeFavorites[bun ch of other symbols ending in a black apple]Update Su."

That is, more or less, the listing of the usual items available at the top of the Favorites submenu. For some reason they seem to be displayed in the main menubar.

Suggest you download a fresh copy of Internet Explorer. You can get that from this MS webpage - Mactopia: Downloads

The last version for OS 9 is v. 5.1.7. As I recall, the installation of it involves just copying a folder to the hard drive, and using the new version inside that folder. This means you will not lose any of your Favorites, etc.

You may need to reset the default browser setting in the Internet control panel, Web tab (bottom of that page), to that particular version of the program.

Also, once it has been copied to the hard drive, increase the Preferred memory allocation for it. Adding 20 or 30 thousand to the original Preferred amount is not excessive.
Article #18278 - Assigning More Memory to an Application

Jan 28, 2006 10:56 PM in response to hamstergrrl

How bizarre! I've gone around with the subscriptions popping up but never like that!

Do you have a copy of the IE installer on your computer or on one of the OS install disks? Sounds to me like the code's gotten corrupted, which does happen. What you do is go into your Preferences folder, then into the Explorer folder and move the 'favorites.html' file to a safe place and then re-install IE.

After it's installed, you launch it (it may go through the Microsoft First Run business), then quit, and it will have built a whole new set of preferences and you can go and put your 'favorites.html' file back into the Explorer prefs folder and it should be fine. You will have to go and set up the toolbar and all that again however..

(I routinely move my favorites.html file out of the Explorer preferences folder when I am travelling, and there will be people using my computer while I'm out.. usually I put it in with my text and picture files and it 'gets lost' - I really don't need anyone knowing where I'm off to when I'm online..)

The other thing is to be mindful that java is becoming incredibly wonky in IE, so if you haven't already, go and get the MRJ 2.2.5.smi from the apple download and install that. Keep the .smi file on hand somewhere you can easily find it..
Up until I recently switched to Panther, I did a java 'freshen up' about once a month. Seemed to help quite a bit..

Oh yeah, the bar at the top is called the 'menu bar' 🙂

Deb.

Jan 28, 2006 11:31 PM in response to Deborah Terreson

Thanks for your answers, Don and Deborah. Since I posted, I had to restart my computer again (I had already tried it once) because it froze up. Now, curiously, that space between "Go" and "Tools" on the MainMenu bar is simply a half-inch blank space. If I click on the space, I get a dropdown menu on which "Add page to Favorites" is the only visible option. So obviously something is still wonky, but I am happy to say that my Command key now works properly! Curioser and curioser....

I think I may try downloading a new version of IE but it sounds as though, if I do, I might still want to move the favorites.html file. What kind of place would be "safe" for me to move it to?

Jan 28, 2006 11:57 PM in response to hamstergrrl

Hi, hamstergrrl -

I might still want to move the favorites.html file. What kind of place would be "safe" for me to move it to?

Any place outside of the folder it is in, preferrably outside the System Folder. Best would be to make a new folder for it outside the System Folder, and put it in there. I usually put holding folders like that into the Utilities folder just to keep things tidy.

Jan 29, 2006 1:10 AM in response to hamstergrrl

Thanks for your answers, Don and Deborah. Since I
posted, I had to restart my computer again (I had
already tried it once) because it froze up. Now,
curiously, that space between "Go" and "Tools" on the
MainMenu bar is simply a half-inch blank space. If I
click on the space, I get a dropdown menu on which
"Add page to Favorites" is the only visible option.
So obviously something is still wonky, but I am happy
to say that my Command key now works properly!
Curioser and curioser....


Hmmmm. Are you getting problems with disappearing words in the menu in IE alone? How about other programs or when you open your HD - any strangeness with the titles in the windows?

Could be a dying battery, that can cause all sorts of strangeness. They usually last four years or so..

I think I may try downloading a new version of IE
but it sounds as though, if I do, I might still want
to move the favorites.html file. What kind of place
would be "safe" for me to move it to?


As Don said, anywhere outside the Explorer prefs folder. You could stick it on the desktop..

You may very well want to DL the IE installer ASAP!

IIRC, Microsoft is set to remove Internet Explorer for Mac from it's website VERY soon..

In a pinch, there's also iCab which is a wonderful browser that is still being developed for OS 9. http://icab.de

Deb.

Jan 29, 2006 7:04 AM in response to Deborah Terreson

Hmmmm. Are you getting problems with disappearing
words in the menu in IE alone? How about other
programs or when you open your HD - any strangeness
with the titles in the windows?


It seems only to be in IE. By the way, I also have a Mozilla browser on my computer, which I installed because so many sites were simply not working with IE anymore. Mozilla is working fine. If I liked Mozilla as well as IE, I'd just use that, but it has numerous differences (mostly about commands and things like not being able to click and hold on an image or page to open it in a new window) and 9 times out of 10 I prefer the IE way of doing things (though that could mostly be habit).


IIRC, Microsoft is set to remove Internet Explorer
for Mac from it's website VERY soon..


Yeah, I think in April. It's too bad--IE for Mac has become the unwanted stepchild browser.Yahoo doesn't work with it (at least, not the version I have), and I frequently get alerts when I go to sites that tell me my experience won't be optimal since I'm using IE. But I really like it! I use Safari at work (I have OS X there) and, like Mozilla, it has various differences that bug me, plus it just looks strange--somehow less "live" than IE--as if I am looking at a PDF of a web page rather than the actual page.
In a pinch, there's also iCab which is a wonderful
browser that is still being developed for OS 9.
http://icab.de


Thanks for the tip. But with an unusual browser like that, don't you get the same warnings all over the net about how this or that site doesn't support your browser?

Beth

Jan 29, 2006 9:53 AM in response to hamstergrrl

Thanks for the tip. But with an unusual browser like that, don't you get the >same warnings all over the net about how this or that site doesn't support >your browser?


With the iCab? Nope. Haven't hit a one. The main strength is that it has support for the cascading style sheets and the different html that IE doesn't. With yahoo mail and the like, it's the CSS that's the problem.. It's actually got a cool little tool that when it loads a page, can tell you if the page is written correctly or not. It can also mimic any of the major browsers in how it displays pages - It's quite suprising. I'm waiting on the final release.

Deb.

Jan 29, 2006 11:18 AM in response to hamstergrrl

It sounds like some sort of corruption -- in preferences, in MSIE itself.

However, in any event, ANYBODY interested in Microsoft Internet Explorer should IMMEDIATELY go to Microsoft and download a pristine copy of probably both MSIE 5.1.7 and MSIE 5.2.3 (the OS X version), These downloads are only going to be available through January 31, 2006 (2 days from now), and then Microsoft has announced they are removing them from their downloads. It might be a good idea to burn these copies to a CD for any future use.

Jan 29, 2006 4:51 PM in response to hamstergrrl

Yes you can import bookmarks!

It's a bit of a pain to do, but your favorites.html file is just that! .html.

You make a copy of the file, plop it on your desktop where it's easy to find, open Safari and then open the html file. You then will get the list of the addresses displayed in the browser and you can open the bookmark sidebar and drag and drop them one at a time into it. It took me about five minutes to do and another five to organize them into their proper folders..

Deb.

Jan 29, 2006 10:26 PM in response to Deborah Terreson

Yes you can import bookmarks!

It's a bit of a pain to do, but your favorites.html
file is just that! .html.

You make a copy of the file, plop it on your desktop
where it's easy to find, open Safari and then open
the html file. You then will get the list of the
addresses displayed in the browser and you can open
the bookmark sidebar and drag and drop them one at a
time into it. It took me about five minutes to do and
another five to organize them into their proper
folders..

One at a time? Heh. See, the reason the bookmarks are such a big deal to me is that, well, I bookmark everything on earth, just to remember it's there. I know it's pretty dysfunctional, but I'm a packrat in "real life," so it just kind of extends to my bookmarks, too. Sure, most of them I don't use regularly, but I like having them there to search through in case I need to find something. Copying them one by one would probably take me a couple of hours. But then, it might be worth it....And it would give me a chance to go through them and weed out what I don't want anymore!

Weird Internet Explorer problem!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.