LQ jams up MSIE on Win98SE
 

When I use MSIE to come to this site, the browser ends up stuck, that is I can't close it, it hangs up and I can't kill it. I must reboot to clear the thing. So what is it about this site that causes this set of eveents?

I hope I can suggest a way to maybe help. Try shutting down the number of programs that start on startup. This will free up memory. I'm sorry its been so long since I have had windows 9X that I can't remember how step by step to do it. I do remember that you need to go to accessories, system tools, and????? I hope I'm on the right path and that this will help you. BTW all the programs you turn off at startup still can be started by clicking on the program in menu.

Why do you bother using such an inferior browser?

ditto AceofSpades, with operating system... :)

seriously though, sometimes you're stuck with an OS- not really so with browser. Firefox works on win 9x?

TG

It might be his slackware computer is down and he has barrowed a computer or dug up an old one that he doesn't want to bother with installing linux. I have an old pentium 90 in the shed I thought I was going to have to use the other day and it has windows on it. Maybe he's in the same shape.

I think Larry Webb was on the right track. It's probably not the site considering the large volume of users who visit the site daily and don't experience problems.

Reboot and press Ctrl Alt Delete to get your system monitor to pop up. See what your CPU is running at and how much memory is being used. You may have a bunch of programs running in the background that shouldn't be.

The other question is, are you logged in to LQ when it hangs?
(to the others, note my 'seriously though...')

Um, i havent ever used win 9x but if it has system configuration tool, or i might be completely wrong but, you run msconfig ? like "start - > run -> msconfig" and there you can mess with the start up programs. --- You might want to try a Windows Forum.

what version of IE?

I seem to remember that Opera 7x worked well on Win 9x, here's the link to the current Win vers.:
http://www.opera.com/download/index....&opsys=Windows
and here is the archive:
http://arc.opera.com/pub/opera/win/

Looking at the stats, a very small number of people do use that browser/OS combo and don't seem to have problems. Are you sure it's LQ causing the issue?

--jeremy

One thing I would suggest is making sure you are logged in, it is possible that kontera is slowing down an older PC. You could also try disabling javascript to see if it makes any difference.

Won't disabling JavaScript break Spell Check, among other things? I'd love to disable JavaScript as a matter of policy, I believe that that will break Spell Check & [check message length]

You're correct - much of the advanced functionality on LQ (and many sites) will not function without JavaScript. It can be useful to disable it for debugging browser issues though (and of course we try to degrade as gracefully as possible).

--jeremy

Well, this post I'm making now is proof that the site works fine without javascript. If it is just the spell check that is stopping you then install a browser that has inbuilt spell checking such as Firefox. The only word it didn't pick up in this post was javascript.

Although as jeremy mentioned there are many advantages to having it enabled.

LOL, thanks for the advice. I am not running lots of stuff, I have just a few things running at any one time, plenty (? ) of memory I think (256k) and it happens at a few other sites, too. New info: since MSIE gets snagged, I came here last with an Opera browser and it closed apparently without prob but when I went to shut the system down, RUNDLL32 was hung and wouldn't close. I think there is something about that lib with a prob. Anyway it is not a serious problem but interesting.

To those who wonder why I am still running Win98SE and MSIE, I do a certain amount of web development, LAMP stuff, and I use my several systems as test clients to talk to my Linux "server". I have Apache w/PHP running on Linux and I use my other machines to see which browsers work and which don't. Also, I still run Win98 because it is the only OS I have that supports my ATI Rage Fury Maxx video card. I would have dumped thid dog long ago were it not for that.

Yes, I was logged int o the site when this problem arose. And if you've seen my posts you know I was unaware of spell check (;) So, I will give the Javascript thing a try, but I personally don't see the relation. And it is MSIE 6, and today Opera 9. Thanks.

I would just like to make a comment that ocassionaly this site is very slow and will not connect. I usually start thinking its my internet, but then i open other sites with ease, maybe it really is my internet, but just would like to mention this observation, yesterday when the site was slow, i even went to another PC, with windows, and tested it, again LQ would not load and other sites would... so not sure if theres an ocassional issue with the server or what but usually this site does load well and quite quickly.

mitchell7man, have you set LQ to always remember you, or do you log in each time? Because some ads have been known to slow down LQ, which is why jeremy doesn't use them on the logged in pages.

TG

If Microsoft doesn't support Windows 98 any longer why should LQ support it.. :)

I have it set to remember me.... why hastle logging in every time?, and I am no saying it just slows down, but it doesn't even load... and this has occurred multiple times, other sites work and this one wont load :)
-BTW- when i do have to log in i have noticed drag from splunk or something like that.

I know management knows I hate the Splunk ads because of their distraction factor -- but here is a possible bandwidth argument against them.

We are well aware of your opinion on the matter and appreciate the feedback. Posting about it in every semi-related thread is probably unnecessary though.

--jeremy

I had the same problem with my personalized Yahoo page a couple of years ago, and to make a long story short, it turned out to be a glitch in my ISP's server. If all else fails, you can call your ISP's customer service when something isn't working correctly. They can monitor your log and help find the problem.

Cheers