Fix if Internet Explorer 5 Locks Up
BugNet

Internet Explorer (5, 5.01) for Windows 98 may lockup if the number of iterations in a JScript "for" loop on an HTML page exceed 80, says Microsoft. A fix is available, but hasn't been tested for backward compatibility; therefore, apply only if this bug causes major grief. Contact Product Support Services here for the fix. At the minimum, the fix should contain these attributes: Date: 15/05/2000; Time: 12:36pm; Version: 5.0.3017.1500; Size: 2,352,500, and; File name: Mshtml.dll.

BETTER BROWSING: DISPLAY A FRAME AS A WEB PAGE OUTSIDE THE FRAME CONTEXT

PROBLEM: Many sites use frames despite the practice's unpopularity. How can you get a given frame to display as a Web page outside of the frame context?

SOLUTION: Netscape Navigator makes this easy. Right-click inside the target frame and choose Open Frame in New Window from the pop- up menu. Internet Explorer is a bit trickier. Right-click inside the frame, then click on the Properties option. Next select the Address (URL) as displayed on the General tab. Right-click on the URL and select copy. In IE paste the URL into the address bar and press enter.

Add and remove Toolbars
(Internet Explorer 5)
IE 5 has four different toolbars that you can turn on or off. To see the toolbars currently in use, click on View and select Toolbars. If a toolbar has a checkmark in front of it, then it's active. To activate an inactive toolbar or deactivate an active one, simply select the option you want checked or unchecked. You can also access the Toolbars menu by right-clicking anywhere on an open toolbar.

Put an end to pop-up hell

Want a quick and dirty way to ditch those massively annoying pop- up ads that sites think actually work? While this isn't likely a permanent solution, these pop-ups are generated using JavaScript, so a quick disabling of the scripting features can leave you to surf in peace.
In Netscape, click Edit - Preferences - Advanced and uncheck the Enable JavaScript box.
Internet Explorer is a bit different, in that you have to dive into the zone security settings. Click Tools - Internet Options - Security - Internet zone, then click the Custom Level button at the bottom of the window. Scroll all the way down to the Scripting section and change the Active Scripting item to either Disable, or Prompt. This will likely affect how some sites display in a browser, however, as some elements of page layout and navigation can be done using JavaScript. By the way, since JavaScript is a Netscape invention, you can thank them for the ability of websites to bombard you with pop-up ads.

Dealing with the X10 'pop-under'
More substantial solutions:

Q: Help! I'm being driven wild by those !$%^#@   ads for X10 spycams that pop up on site after site. Is there anything I can do about them?

A: You are not alone in your frenzy and, yes, there is something you can do about them.

This company has blitzed the market with its back-door ads which pop-up under your browser window. X10 claims the 'pop-under' ads are less intrusive than traditional pop-up ads because they don't obscure the page you're reading and only appear when you close or minimise your browser window. Whether you swallow this line or not, I find it interesting that the company has deemed it necessary to create a page on its site justifying its ads as "100% legal and 100% safe". The company has claimed a high success rate with the pop-unders, but one wonders how many of those click-throughs came from enraged surfers looking for a place to vent.

Anyway, if you examine the URL of the link used to banish the ads, it looks like this: www.x10.com/home/optout.cgi?DAY=30&PAGE=http://www.x10.com/x10ads1.htm You should be able to increase the period of banishment by upping that DAY=30 count. That's what this link does.

More substantial solutions:
If you're interested in a more widespread solution to the spread of pop-ups, pop-unders and other so-called interstitials, you might like to try Panicware's free Pop-up Stopper. This will stop ads like the X10 pop-unders as well as many other ads. Its solution, however, is a little draconian: It prevents more than one instance of a browser window from opening, so it will even prevent legitimate windows, such as e-mail links and site links which appear in a separate window, from opening. You can get around this limitation by Shift-clicking or Ctrl-clicking links. You can also quickly disable Pop-up Stopper by double-clicking its system tray icon.

An alternative to Pop-up Stopper is WebWasher. This program is free for personal and home use, $29 for businesses. WebWasher not only lets you stop the pop-ups, it also provides cookie filters, script suppression, URL filters, site blocking, and a variety of other privacy, content and access tools.

There are many other similar programs available. A quick search at ZDNet's Software Library for 'pop-up ads' will reveal several dozen utilities that will help you regain control of your browser.

How The Cookie Crumbles

Time and time again we get inquiries on removing various aspects of the Temporary Internet Folder. TIF is a place where downloaded pages from the web are stored to facilitate reloading of same or like content when one returns to a site. The cookie folder stores all manner of information on your local hard drive such as login names for sites which require it and a mass of other information a web site owner can use to remember you when you return. It just sounds better than, "Welcome back, you know who you are". So, in that light here is another in a long series of questions concerning the TIF folder on your hard drive.

Q: How can I delete the index.dat files that have to do with cookies and temporary Internet files that are stored on my hard drive? When I try to delete them I get a message that says they are protected or in use by someone else. These files are getting quite large and I would like to have the option of clearing them out periodically. Can it be done?

A: You are confusing three different pieces of Windows data.  Index.dat is part of the registry and has nothing to do with cookies or Internet storage.  You mess with index.dat at your peril.  Although there are some third- party tools that claim to clean and compress the registry, I'd be reluctant to use them.

On the other hand, you can delete most of the temporary Internet files by choosing Tools, Internet Options in IE and clicking Delete Files within the Temporary Internet Files pane. To deal with Cookies, you can use one of the many third- party cookie managers. Of course Microsoft is playing with cookie management in the new release of MSIE 6.0 Public Preview Release. You can learn more about MSIE 6.0 PP here.

A quick search at one of the big online shareware libraries such as ZDNet's Software Library or CNet's Downloads will uncover a host of them.

Script based virus prevention in Outlook Express

If you use Outlook Express or Outlook 2000, you should immediately take the following important steps to prevent this type of script-based virus from attacking your system:

1. Open Outlook Express and choose the Tools, Options menu.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. In the Security Zones section, select the Restricted sites zone (More secure) box.
4. Click OK to apply the change.

This simple but important measure disables potentially dangerous scripts like the BubleBoy virus and others which use the VBS scripting language. Do it today, and share this tip with a friend or family member!

To double up on this type of prevention make your Notepad the default viewer for *.vbs file. Here is how:

1. Open NotePad (Start | Run | Type Notepad0
2. Save it to a temporary folder such as C:\Temp and save it as untitled.vbs
3. Open Windows Explorer
4. Navigate to C:\Temp\untitled.vbs
5. Hold down on the Shift key and right click on the file
6. Select Open with from the menu
7. Be sure the Always open this type of file with this program is checked.
8. Select Notepad as the program to open this file
9. This way the VBS script can not execute and will be opened in Windows NotePad.exe. This is also a good way to see what the script will do if executed.
10. This works with all versions of MSIE, Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape, Opera, Eudora, or any other of VBS script enabled program.

FYI .
Another way to do this, in Windows File Associations, was sent to us courtesy of "The Schwartz Family", give it a try:

Another method for:Script based virus prevention in Outlook Express is to make EDIT the default option of double clicking a VBS file.  This way a VBS file won't execute unless it is right clicked and OPEN is chosen:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop to start Windows Explorer.
2. On the View menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, click VBScript Script File in the list, and then click Edit.
4. If it does not exists do the following to create it:
   1. Follow steps 1-3 above
   2. To ascertain if the VBS Scripter is installed on your computer highlight any file in the list and press V. This brings you to all files beginning with the letter V. Scroll down the list to see if the VBScript Script File is in the list. If it is, go to 5 by clicking here. If not, do this section to create the association:
      1. Click the New Type Button
      2. In the Description of type box, type:
         VBScript Script File
      3. In the Associated Extension type:
         VBS
      4. Be sure to place a check mark in the:
         Always Show Extension (See Figure 1 Below)
      5. Click the New Button
      6. In the Action box type:
         &Edit
      7. In the "Applications Used to Perform Action", type (See Figure 2 Below)
         C:\WINDOWS\WScript.exe "%1" %*
      8. Click Okay
         NOTE: If after clicking okay you get an error message, you do not have Windows WScript.exe on your machine. This is especially true if you are using Windows 98 and haven't updated. In which case, I would encourage you to go immediately to the Windows Update Site and get the latest updates for your Windows version.
      9. Highlight Edit in the Action Window
      10. Click the Default Button
      11. If you wish to change the default Icon, click the Change Icon Button and locate an Icon which looks right to you otherwise, click close. (Bo Tip: You can usually find icons in most *.EXE* or *.DLL* files click the browse button if the defaults do not suit you) The default Icon will be used by Windows otherwise.
      12. If you have VBScript Script File in your file list, skip this section and move on to 5 below
5. In the Edit File Type dialog box that appears, click the EDIT entry in the Actions box, and then click SET DEFAULT.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Software Secret: Cover Your Tracks
PROBLEM: When I use Internet Explorer's search function, terms I previously searched for appear in a drop-down box on the left of my screen, underneath the box that I type my keywords in. How can I protect my privacy and delete my previous entries?

SOLUTION: This feature, called Forms AutoComplete, is one of several options in Internet Explorer that remember previous entries. (Other AutoComplete options save user names, passwords, and Web addresses.)

To disable IE's memory for search terms and Web-based forms, choose Internet Options from the Tools menu. In the resulting dialog box, click the Contents tab, click the AutoComplete button, and then uncheck the Use AutoComplete for Forms box

To continue using the Forms AutoComplete feature but just clean up entries that could compromise your privacy, use either of these techniques:

1. To erase all records of search text, open the AutoComplete dialog box and click Clear Forms in the Clear AutoComplete History section. IE will remember future entries, but past entries vanish into the ether.
   
   
2. To erase a single saved entry, double-click in the Search box to reveal the drop-down list of saved Search terms. Use the arrow key to move the selection down through the list until the entry you want to erase is highlighted. Then press Delete.

Really concerned about security? Install Microsoft's unofficial, unsupported Tweak UI utility and run through the settings on the Paranoia tab. Options let you purge the contents of every Windows list that has a memory.

Q: When filling out an online form, Windows will quickly supply all the alternatives ever entered that start with the letter of the alphabet I've just typed. Unfortunately that includes all the mistyped ones and one-offs as well. Since this is a handy feature, I don't want to turn it off. How do I edit this list to just the useful entries I am likely to use again?

A: This is a neat feature of Internet Explorer.  There is no way to edit this list as a whole that I know of.  But when the drop down list is displayed, if you highlight any entry and hit Del, you'll remove it.

More of your Favorites Scope of the, Did you know section
What good is a utilities abilities if no one knows that they exist? In that light, see our Did You Know section...coming soon.

You might have noticed that your Internet Explorer favorites list is accessible right from your Windows 98 Start menu. But did you know that you can put more than just bookmarks in your browser's favorites list? To add file and folder shortcuts to your Favorites list, go to C:WindowsFavorites, then drag and drop your shortcut into the window.

Clear AutoComplete Forms

To clear AutoComplete forms, from the Tools menu select Internet Options, then click the Content tab. In the Personal information area, click AutoComplete, then click Clear Forms.

Outlook Express inadvertent script execution
Text e-mails process scripts
By Lisa Williams BUGNET

Sept. 20 — The only way to secure a computer from hackers is not connect it to the Internet. Since none of us have that luxury, it’s important to keep up to date on current security vulnerabilities. For Microsoft Outlook Express users, that means realizing that maybe there is no way to secure it from malicious attacks. Go to the Full Story

The quick fix: Changing the Internet security level in Internet Explorer prevents any script in a plain text e-mail message from executing when viewed with Outlook Express. In Internet Explorer on the Tools menu, select Internet Options…. Then click the Security tab and raise the sliding bar all the way up to High. This will protect you from the hidden scripts in plain text messages.

E-mail Screen Shots
E-mail Screen Shots To send a screen shot via e-mail, open the desired window, and press Alt+PrtScrn. Open a new message in Outlook, then press Ctrl-V to paste the window into your message. To capture the entire desktop, rather than just the active window, press the PrtScrn key without the Alt key.

Block Popups In IE6

To make popup windows go away in Internet Explorer 6 simply go to the site with the popup and then go into the Content Advisor and block the site where the popup loads, the popup won't show up again.

For more details on this and other little annoyances, see Closing Windows

Remove Personalized Menus

Microsoft adds new features to its operating system to make it easier for new users, however power users can find them to be an annoyance. One of these annoyances we are speaking of is our friends the Personalized Menus.

Personalized menus make only the options you have used recently show up on the menus. Its a great idea but for users who are constantly using a programs options this can get to be annoying.

To stop the flow of questions about killing them now.. we will give you the scoop at this moment... Yes now.

Simply go into Internet Explorer, select Advanced Options and uncheck Use Personalized Menus.

Not to bad ehh?

Microsoft Internet Explorer Slows or Halts Connection:

Q. I am using IE6 with Windows 98 (first edition). I regularly empty my cache, delete all files, clear history, perform scandisk & defragment my PC. However, after I have clicked on and visited 10/15 web sites my connection seems to hang, the two PC icons in the system tray stop communicating and the page/link I have clicked on takes an age to load. Once loaded I can then surf happily for another 10/15 sites/pages but then it hangs again. This continues throughout my connection. I had been experiencing the same problem using IE5, I thought upgrading to IE6 might have solved the problem, unfortunately it hasn't. I have used all settings i.e. never check for new pages...always check for new pages...automatically check for new pages, I still get the same problem. I also use the latest Opera browser, with no problems (hangups whatsoever), so I know it is not a problem with my modem. Any assistance/advice would be appreciated

A. First let me congratulate you on doing everything right...great job! You'd be surprised how many do not perform even the simplest system maintenance procedures.

While I can easily sympathize with your problem, I have seen it before. As for Opera, it handles modem interfaces differently then MSIE does. Let me backup a bit, MSIE is not only your browser, but also an integral part of your operating system. So, in essence your statement is true as far as it goes. However there is more to it than that.

Method 1
Increase Cache Folder Size
You may want to increase your cache folder size. Sometimes this cache becomes so bloated after multiple connections to various sites that it just refuses to extend the proper identifiers. This is especially true if you visit allot of sites which are graphics intensive. In an ideal world MSIE would delete the older file versions in the cache folder to make room for a newer version...this is rarely true unfortunately.

Here is how to perform this adjustment:

1. Click Start Select Settings
2. Select Internet Options
3. Under Temporary Internet Files on the General tab click the settings button
4. Slide the slider slightly to the right or type in a value in megabytes which is somewhat larger than it is now.
5. See if that works for you..if not try the AT Commands listed below.

Some of my clients have had some success with installing new modem drivers.

I also find that with some modems, particularly with the HP56 brand of modem a simple
AT command will generally fix the problem.

Method 2
Try this At Command:

1. Click Start | Settings | Control Panel
2. Double click on the modem icon
3. Select Properties from the modem dialog
4. Select the Connections Tab
5. Click the Advanced button
6. In the Extra Settings box type
   n0s37=12
7. Click okay
8. Click okay
9. Click Closed
10. Reboot to lock this settings into your Systems Registry database Once your computer restarts to Windows try surfing the net again, see if this command has solved the problem

If not, please contact your local ISP's Tech Support

THE POP-UP WAR HEATS UP
As you can no doubt tell, I hate add-popups. Think about it. Have you seen any adds to anything on Blaisdell's Little corner of the Web? Of course not. this site is free to you. Even if I did go to advertising, I'd be hard pressed to use the popup add mentality. In particular, I hate the pop-up advertising trend in all its forms: pop-up, pop-under, pop-over. I hate it because it wrests control of
my browsing from me. I hate it ecause its confusing to inexperienced computer users (I get lots of pleas for help from newcomers who can't work out why these pop-ups keep appearing). I hate it because it has no limits - if one pop-up doesn't work, advertisers resort to two, three and more pop-up windows after I have closed my main browser window. Enough already!

I'm not alone in my pop-up aversion, hence the plethora of filtering utilities designed to close pop-ups automatically. Do a search at ZDNet's Software Library (http://www.hotfiles.com ) or Downloads.com ( http://www.downloads.com ) for 'popup' and you'll find dozens of these tools. Some of these utilities also block all ads on a site, including in-page ads. I'm not fussed about in-page ads, but I understand why surfers still burdened with slow connections do anything they can to speed up page loading, including blocking ads and all graphics.

Well, it appears that the advertising industry is hitting back. A company called mediaBeam
( http://www.mediabeam.com  ) has created Adkey, a program which allows site operators to block access to any visitor who uses ad filtering software, whether it merely kills popups or blocks all ads
indiscriminately. Adkey recognises "more or less all" the available filtering software. When a visitor with ad-blocking software enabled visits an Adkey-protected site, Adkey denies access and pops up a message suggesting they disable their software or pay for an advertising-free subscription to the site.

Of course, it'll be interesting to see how Adkey handles Internet Explorer 6 and Netscape 6, which provide much greater control over site blocking. With IE 6, for example, you can kill many popups (or at least block their content) by adjusting the privacy options:

  1. Select Internet Options from the Tools Menu.
  2. Click the Privacy tab and click the Edit button in the
     Web Sites section.
  3. Type in the name of a Web site and click Block. 

How to Configure Outlook Express to Open Links in E-mail Messages in a New Browser Window
See also: Links in Outlook Express Stop Working

To configure Outlook Express to always open additional URLs in a new Internet Explorer window, you need to change the file associations for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) under the folder settings in Windows Explorer. To do so, use the following steps for the appropriate operating system.

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop to start Windows Explorer.
2. On the View menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, click URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol in the list, and then click Edit.
4. In the Edit File Type dialog box that appears, click the OPEN entry in the Actions box, and then click Edit.
5. In the Editing action for type: URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol window, click to clear the Use DDE check box.
6. In the Application used to perform action box, type %1 at the end of the string so it looks like the following example (the drive and location of Iexplore.exe may be different):

   "D:\Progra~1\Intern~1\iexplore.exe" -nohome %1

7. Click OK, click Close, and then click Close.
8. Quit Windows Explorer.
9. Quit all versions of Internet Explorer.

Now when you run Outlook Express, additional links are opened in a new Internet Explorer window.

To run Outlook Express, additional links are opened in the same Internet Explorer window.

Windows 95 or Windows 98

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop to start Windows Explorer.
2. On the View menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the File Types tab, click the URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol entry, and then click Edit.
4. In the Edit File Type dialog box that appears, click the OPEN entry in the Actions box, and then click Edit.
5. In the Editing action for type: URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol window, click to select the Use DDE check box.
6. In the Application used to perform action box, delete the %1 that appears after the -nohome entry, as shown in the following example (the drive and location of Iexplore.exe may be different):

   "D:\Progra~1\Intern~1\iexplore.exe" -nohome

7. In the DDE Message box, type the following:
   
           "%1",,-1,0,,,,
8. In the Application box, type IExplore.
9. Leave the DDE Application Not Running box empty.
10. In the Topic box, type WWW_OpenURL.
11. Click OK, click Close, and then click Close.
12. Quit Windows Explorer.
13. Quit all versions of Internet Explorer.

Here is another twist to this idea
Links in Outlook Express Stop Working

When you click on a link in Outlook Express either nothing happens, or when you open a link in a new window all you get is a blank page. The solution is fairly painless, all you need to do is re-register the URL monitor. Click on Start | Run and enter: "REGSVR32 URLMON.DLL" (without the quotes). You should then have a dialog tell you that the procedure was completed. Next, fire up Internet Explorer and Click Tools | Internet Options | Programs | then click the "Reset Web Settings" button. Now, check to see if Web links work like they should in your e-mail client. With any luck, you'll have returned your system to normal.

Q.-It Ain't Over Till the Hard Drive Sings-
Retrieving Deleted Email
I'm using Outlook Express 5 with Windows 98. I had placed some email messages in the Delete folder (and had set the options to "empty messages from delete folder at exit") when Windows crashed and I had to restart the PC. The Delete folder emptied, and I lost those messages. I would like to know if I can recover them.

A. - The site below is for downloading DBXtract.  Scroll down and read the revovery mode.  I believe this will do what you want and is spyware free freeware.

http://chattanooga.net/~scochran/DBXtract.htm

Q2. - But What if it is Outlook which comes with MsOffice?

A2. - If you have .mbx files rather than .dbx files, there is a program called MBXtract which is put out by the same persons responsible for DBXtract.

What about opening the files in Notepad? My suggestion, don't bother. *.DBX* files are encrypted and even though you should find some text, the bulk is scattered with encrypted machine code. Changing it to text (*.txt) may not help very much. ----Bo

Attention Telemarketers:

I do not allow organizations to use my name or to contact me to make solicitations other than as permitted in my Junkbusters Declaration.

Version Dec 7 Copyright © 2001 Larry Blaisdell