Question:

Tony, I am still using Windows 98 on one of my old computers (I just like 98!) and I have been unable to download for quite a while. I have spent hours on the Microsoft web site trying to resolve this issue but nothing has worked! I found your “fix” on your website for Vista where you referred to chris123nt.com. I copied the fix but, when I tried to import it into Windows 98, I got this message “Cannot import file. The specified file is not a registry script. You can only import registry files”.

I guess in my haste I should have determined if this would fix would work in Windows 98?  Do you know if it would and, if so, how do I import it.  If it doesn’t work, do you have any idea where I could find the proper fix?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

p.s. I have been using XP for the past 4 years and I want to buy a new computer but I have been hesitant because I am afraid some of my old (irreplacable) programs will not work with Vista. Have they finally worked out all of the “bugs” that I have been reading about?

Answer:

Hi, Joe. You’re referring to this post.

First, I don’t know if it will work in Windows 98–I suppose it depends more on the version of Internet Explorer you’re using. It’s worth a shot though. If Win98 won’t handle the .reg file (I really don’t remember, after all, it’s like 9 years old :) ), you can make the changes manually by following these steps (I’m trying to remember the 98 user interface, so forgive me if I make a mistake):

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. Type regedit, and then press Enter. If that doesn’t open the Registry Editor, try running regedt32.

3. Select HKEY_CLASSES\.xml. In the right pane, double-click Perceived Type, and set it to “text”.

4. Select HKEY_CLASSES\.xml\OpenWithList\winword.exe.  Delete any values.

5. Select HKEY_CLASSES\.xml\PersistentHandler\. Double-click the (Default) value, and set it to “{7E9D8D44-6926-426F-AA2B-217A819A5CCE}”.

Hope that helps!

When I click on the Help and Support, I get a message that IE cannot open the Internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found.  Is this a known bug?

Don

Answer:

This has come up before–running this .reg file should solve your problems.

Hi Tony

Since a few days I have a very weird problem

When I try open the helpfiles I receive an error saying that internet explorer can’t find the files (see attached screenshot error1)

I use Firefox 2 as default browser

First I thought it was because of that but even after I put IE as default browser again I received the same error

Do you have any idea what I could do to get that fixed?

Best Regards

Answer:

My original answer didn’t work (it’s below, in case it’s still useful to someone), so I did some more research and found Kristan Kenney’s blog, which says:

If you have been getting the dreaded “Internet Explorer cannot download / from help” error message when attempting to open Help and Support in Windows Vista, try this fix. It re-associates the .xml file type with its default settings. Once you’ve merged this into the registry, re-launch Help and Support and it should work.

You can download the fix at http://www.chris123nt.com/guides/RTM_Fixes/Fix_Help_and_Support.zip.

Hope this helps!

The fix is just a .reg file that udpates the registry. Here’s what the .reg file looks like (in case it disappears in the future):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xml]
@=”xmlfile”
“Content Type”=”text/xml”
“PerceivedType”=”text”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xmlOpenWithList]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xmlOpenWithListwinword.exe]
@=”"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xmlPersistentHandler]
@=”{7E9D8D44-6926-426F-AA2B-217A819A5CCE}”

Unfortunately, it looks like this is a very common problem. Hopefully Microsoft will release an official fix soon. Looks like this fixed the reader’s problem:

Hi Tony

YES that did it :) :) :)

You are the greatest. THANKS a lot for the help

You’re welcome :). Here’s my original response (which didn’t solve the problem):

Heya. I haven’t seen that error, but I’d like you to try a couple of things and get back to me. First, try clearing your Internet Explorer cache by followign these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer. Click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Delete.
3. On the Delete Browsing History dialog, under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files. Under History, click Delete History.
4. Click OK twice. Close Internet Explorer.

Now, try to open Help again. If it works, you’re done.

If it still doesn’t work, let’s do one more thing to try and delete the history:

1. Log on using a different user account.
2. Click Start and type Cmd. Right-click Cmd on the Start menu, and then click Run As Administrator. Respond to the UAC prompt that appears.
3. Type the following commands (where username is the name of your regular user account):
   cd “UsersusernameAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5″
   del index.dat
4. Restart your computer.

Hopefully, it’ll work then. Let us know how it turns out (you can send an e-mail or add a comment).

If you see this message after the standard “There is a problem with this website’s security certificate”, it’s probably not a serious problem. This message usually appears because you’re visiting a website using HTTPS with the wrong URL.

HTTPS is a security protocol that verifies the identity of websites and encrypts traffic. To verify a website’s identity, HTTPS uses an SSL certificate, which is like a driver’s license for a web server.

The most common cause of this error is that the name you used to access the web server doesn’t match the website’s “official” name (known as the “common name”) listed on the SSL certificate. It’s like calling me Anthony Northrup, even though it says Tony Northrup on my license. For Web servers, it usually means the certificate was issued for “www.vistaclues.com” and you’re accessing “vistaclues.com”, or vice-versa.

For example, visit my homepage using SSL and the correct name (www.northrup.org). No problem. Now, visit it using SSL and an incorrect, but still valid, name (northrup.org). You’ll see the error. It’s the same website, just the wrong name.

So, the first step in troubleshooting this problem is just to try other names. If you’re not sure of the correct name, click Continue to this website. Once at the website, follow these steps to view the proper name for the website:

1. Press the Alt key to show the menu bar. Then, click File, and click Properties.

2. Click the Certificates button.

3. On the Certificate dialog, notice the name shown at the Issued to: line. If you use this name to visit the website, you won’t get the error message.

Protected Mode is one of Windows Vista’s best new security features. With it, Internet Explorer (and anything that a bad website might do when you visit it with Internet Explorer) runs with very minimal rights to your computer. In fact, it can’t read your personal documents, install programs, or do anything that might damage your computer. This will stop a lot of spyware that automatically installed itself when the user visited a website.

If you do need to do something that Protected Mode would normally block, it’ll prompt you, as shown above. If this becomes annoying for a particular website, you can stop Protected Mode just for that website by adding it to your Trusted Sites zone. Just follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press the Alt key to open the menu bar.
3. Click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click the Trusted sites zone. Then, click the Sites button.
   
6. Clear the Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone check box.
7. Type the name of your website, and then click Add.
   
8. Click Close, and then click OK.

Not enough for you? Disable it for all websites by default (thus giving up a lot of security) by following these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press the Alt key to open the menu bar.
3. Click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click the Internet zone. Then, clear the Enable Protected Mode check box.
6. Click OK.

Protected Mode is only available on Windows Vista; it doesn’t work with Windows XP. It also won’t work if you disable UAC, because it relies upon UAC.

Standard users can’t install most ActiveX controls–you need to be an administrator. If you only give your users a standard login, they might run into problems using ActiveX. To enable users to install specific ActiveX controls, you can use the ActiveX Installer Service.

The ActiveX Installer Service is disabled by default (well, it’s not even installed). To install it, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Programs. Then, click Turn Windows Features On And Off. A UAC prompt appears.
3. At the Windows Features dialog, select ActiveX Installer Service check box. Then, click OK.
4. Restart your computer.
5. After the computer restarts, you need to set the ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV) service to start automatically. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Manage. Expand Services and Applications, and then click Services. Right-click ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV), and then click Properties. Click Startup type, and then click Automatic. Then, click the Start button, and finally click OK.

Now that you’ve done that, nothing will behave differently. To use it, you must enable the “Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\ActiveX Installer Service\Approved Installation Sites For ActiveX Controls” Group Policy setting and add each URL you want to allow ActiveX controls for. For the value, you can typically just go with “2,2,1,0″.

For more detailed information, read Gabriel’s post on the same topic (based on a pre-release version of Vista).

1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click Internet Explorer (No Add-Ons).

If Internet Explorer does start this way but doesn’t start using the standard shortcut, add-ons are definitely causing your problems. Close Internet Explorer, and then follow these steps to disable any add-ons that you have recently installed:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Network and Internet.
3. Under Internet Options, click Manage browser add-ons.
4. Click Manage Add-Ons.
5. At the Manage Add-Ons dialog, click the most recently installed add-on. Then, click Disable to prevent the add-on from automatically loading.

Now, start Internet Explorer using the normal shortcut. If it starts ok, then you successfully disabled the problematic add-on. If it still doesn’t start, disable the next most recently installed add on, and try opening it again.

Unless you have Firefox installed. Then, Windows Vista will try and open it in Firefox, which will prompt you repeatedly asking how to deal with the file.

To view the XPS file, follow these steps:

1. Save the XPS file to your computer.
2. Start Internet Explorer.
3. Then, press the Alt key on your keyboard, click File, and then click Open.
4. Click the Browse button, select your file, and then click OK.
5. Click Open.

Internet Explorer will prompt you to open a new window. Open it up, and you can view the file.

For earlier versions of the Windows operating system, download the Microsoft XPS Document Writer to generate XPS files from any Windows application and an XPS viewer to see the results. You’ll probably need some other components, too, like the .NET Framework 3.0 (who’s using that? :) )

Like Descapa the mystery Microsoftie, you’re a busy person with an active lifestyle. You don’t have time to type “www.” or “.com”.

In either Internet Explorer or Firefox, just type the name of the website (ie., “Vistaclues” or “Cnn”). Then, press Ctrl+Enter. Your Web browser will add the www. and .com automatically.

If you type a word in the address bar and just press Enter, Internet Explorer will search for the phrase in your default search engine, while Firefox will take you to the website you’re most likely looking for.

With Internet Explorer 7 (either in Windows Vista or Windows XP), you can zoom the game in to be almost full-screen (after the jump).

First, open the game in Internet Explorer and maximize it to take up the whole screen (try pressing Alt-Space, X). Press F11 to make Internet Explorer full-screen. Then, hold down the Ctrl key and press + repeatedly (Ctrl-+) to zoom in the flash game until it takes up the full browser window. You might need to scroll up or down to center it horizontally.

To zoom back out and make the game smaller, hold down Ctrl and press -. To zoom back to normal, hold down Ctrl and press the number 0. Here’s a game to try it out on:

Gust: review, discussion, hints, tips and walkthrough at Jay is Games