I haven't been able to open IE for about a month. When this happened before I reinstalled it and it was fine until it happened again. But now I've reinstalled it several times with no luck.
I have Windows XP SP3, Home Edition 2002 and reinstalled IE 8 beta. I tried to downgrade but it won't do anything since there is a more recent version on the computer.

I mainly used it for watching "instant play" Netflix movies, but since this is the only browser that does, I'm out of luck.

I downloaded the program suggested in another thread, Easy Spyware Remover to get the printout as suggested but that was just one more scam to make you buy something because you can't get a report unless you do.

Have you tried to uninstall ie8 from add/remove programs?

Uninstall 8 and use 7 until IE8 is out of BETA and a final version is released

I uninstalled IE 8 and reinstalled 7, but it still won't open.

Try to download IE7 from here and install over what you have now, hopefully this will work
Download details: Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9AE91EBE-3385-447C-8A30-081805B2F90B&displaylang=en)

Ok, thanks. I'll try anything.

No luck.

What comes up when you click on IE

Nothing. It won't open up at all. I've tried from the tray and from the start menu, so it isn't shortcut either. There is no message, error or otherwise.

Try going directly to the file

In windows explorer, go to C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer and double click on iexplore.exe there

There is no Windows Explorer. I even did a search and nothing came up.

I did a search for iexplore.exe and it didn't come up either.

Go right to the folder in windows explorer as mentioned

It should be installed to c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe

There is no windows explorer. I did a search for IE files and looked through the folders and the iexplore.exe doesn't seem to exist.

IE is listed in the program files, but there is nothing there. It doesn't have a dropdown (sideways) menu with anything in it.

At this point I would suggest a repair installation

Repair Installation
A Repair Install will replace the system files with the files on the XP CD used for the Repair Install. It will leave your applications and settings intact, but Windows updates will need to be reapplied.

Perform a Repair Installation (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx)

How do I bring up a screen that has "boot from CD?" I know I have to hit a button when it's starting up, but somewhere I'm missing the right one.

There are different keys for different systems

When starting computer with the cd in the drive, try the F7 key
Some use the F12 key and there are others that you can press any key during boot that will give you option to boot to CD

If these don't work

When you first turn on you computer, look for keys to press listed on the screen to enter into BIOS

Once in BIOS, you want to make your first Boot Device the CD Rom and save changes and let the computer restart and it should boot to the CD

If any of these don't help, post your computer make and model and will see what can be found out about getting the CD to boot

Ok, thanks. f7 was one I didn't try, but I did get bios, although I didn't see the CD boot option but will try again.

What you can do is to Reset the Bios defaults, this will usually assign the CD to boot first

It worked. I've got IE back. I thought about the repair function some time ago but was afraid to try it and delete my files accidentally, so it was very scary waiting to see if everything would come back, but it worked exactly as it was supposed to.

I can't thank you enough for having the patience to stick with this. It probably repaired other problems I was having too.

Dianne

Good to hear, this was the last thing to try and knew it would work, but I always try to do this as last step and didn't have any other ideas;)

Now that you have done the repair, you need to go back to windows updates and get all your updates again

It's already in the process. You had mentioned that before so I got on it as soon as IE came back on. It's in the process now.

Do you have any idea what made IE crash like that in the first place? And should I update to IE 7 and use that link for the update to load over the top of it that was discussed previously?

No, you should leave IE behind and switch over to FireFox. No one I know has regretted it once they actually made the switch.

I personally only use Firefox for AHMD as there is more room to work with in the answer box window, other than that I'm an IE guy

But both do the job

Google's new Chrome is well worth a look as well, especially now they have "patched" a nasty security hole.

djt10 disagrees: I already have Firefox. If you had read the earlier questions you would know that IE is the only browser that plays Netflix "instant movies", which is the reason I wanted it back. I have Firefox, Nescape, and Flock besides IE.

Sorry DJT10, you're wrong about IE being the only browser that will play. It's the only browser NetFlix supports. My entire company RUNS on Microsoft Exchange Server which clearly requires IE for web functions. Guess what? I use FireFox for that.

FireFox is a superior browser and includes plugin-capability which lets you add to the engine. I added the IE-tab tool which allows any site that requires IE to be opened and run in a Window/Tab that utilizes IE's engine.

Win-Win. (Example of how others easily do this (http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2007/01/firefox_instant.html))

I read your original post. My suggestion was correct and was intended to make your entire browsing experience better. So I wasn't factually incorrect (which would warrant a negative rating)... I'm just more informed.

You can keep IE, though, of course. That's a fact, too.