Internet Explorer being a pain the arse

[tokyochojin]

My IE keeps crashing every now and then saying there is some sort of error and has to close??Any clues guys, it has only recently started doing this so....?

[demon9k]

Here come all the posts about Firefox......

[Crispin]

The error description might help. What does it say?

[tokyochojin]

sorry mate and firefox is....?

[Crispin]

It's a browser that hasn't reached maturity yet, with some nice features, but also some problems in it that need to be ironed out. Not compatible with all sites, so you need IE still. So what's the error?

[Concept]

I agree there are still some bugs in Firefox that need to be ironed out, but it offers a far, far smoother ride than IE. I don't know how I lived without tabbed browsing beforehand.

[Super Stu]

As IE is so integrated into the OS, a dodgy IE may indicate wider problems.

[Grey Area]

You could try reinstalling it. Or doesnt IE have a repair button in the 'add/remove progs' section?

[Chadruharazzeb]

You can't UNinstall IE, but you can REinstall it. Try it at once.

[marcus]

Please do the usual thing also and run spyware detection and antivirus checks, it would be helpful if when people ask for pc help they state that they have done standard things like this beforehand and what the error message is to save people having to ask.

[Wild_Cat]

Broken IE may mean a broken OS (that's what they get for making sure the OS couldn't work w/o the browser...). However, Firefox is the way to go, regardless of whether IE works or not.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

It's free, it's fast, it's got features you'll never find in IE and it's secure. Be sure to check out the Thunderbird e-mail client while you're at it. Outlook Express is far too dangerous for human use.

[tokyochojin]

its something like "the search assistant has encounterd a problem and needs to close" also i have a search bar in my blue toolbar section at the bottom of the screen?? it just appeared from somewhere. How do i permantly remove it? Cos when i go into toolbars and de-select it, it just appears next time i switch on the pc.

[Super Stu]

Some applications you may wish to immediately consider:

ad-aware
spybot
AVG

Probably in that order

[tokyochojin]

yeh i ran norton and it couldn't detect anything, so i guess i need a spybot or something...cheers

[Super Stu]

... it would be helpful if when people ask for pc help they state that they have done standard things like this ...

I agree about the error message, but not everyone is au fait enough to realise virii/spyware could be the problem.