My Inspiron B130 came preloaded with Google Desktop and the Google Toolbar in IE. When I'm online something sometimes happens that I've never seen on any of my other systems.
When a Web page can't be loaded, the address bar won't just show the URL I want--say, support.dell.com, but rather something like http://www.google.com/hws/dell/afe?hl=en&s=http://support.dell.com/. Then everything hangs up, and I can't go anywhere online without restarting the computer.
Why is this happening? Is IE using Google as some kind of proxy server? Is there a way to configure IE to fix the problem?
It appears that I spoke too soon. The pages aren't routed through Google any more, but there are still times when both IE and Firefox just hang up and I have to reboot to get back on line. This happens with both my ISPs too, and my connections are configured just like they are on my other machines. Any other ideas?
It doesn't appear that your current problem is related to the previous one. I wasn't all that impressed with Firefox, and removed it almost as soon as it was installed, but you may have a problem with your connection device, which you haven't identified yet - modem, NIC, what? I'd suggest troubleshooting from that angle.
We may finally have it figured out! The rep on Dell Chat suggested reinstalling the modem driver, which didn't help either. Then I started to wonder whether the Windows firewall might be interfering with the ZoneAlarm I downloaded. I uninstalled Zone, and all is well (so far!).
Then I started to wonder whether the Windows firewall might be interfering with the ZoneAlarm I downloaded. I uninstalled Zone, and all is well (so far!).
The Windows firewall is more than adequate for the majority of users anyway. It is far less troublesome, and uses much fewer resources. You may have done yourself a number of good turns by this action.
Flooby
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Posted January 1st, 2006 19:00
Go to Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall anything related to Google. Reboot if prompted.