ie8 back, forward, home, refresh buttons all quit working

Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:

Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
site does NOT work.

Almost all options are greyed out:
1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
choices there are greyed out.
2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
Options!
4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.

The Links toolbar works fine.

If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.

Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?

Hi Brian,

Are you using the x86 or the x64 version of IE8? Is this a 'home' computer
or a work administered computer? Was the Win7 a clean install or an upgrade
(from what OS?).

First task when you encounter problems with IE(6/7/8) is to test if the
problem still occurs when you run IE8 (x86 version) in no-Addons mode. (x64
version does not support most other x86 IE addons).
Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Internet Explorer (no-Addons)

Grayed out menu items, however is not a symptom of an Incompatible addons
(but you should use the above test anyway in case you have installed a
toolbar that we or MS have not tested). Some Addons alter the users
preferences without asking. They may be doing this incorrectly and effecting
the menu's layout.

There is a little known issue in IE8 which grays out menu items when you
have more than (around) 20 additional Command Bar buttons installed.
You can reset your Command bar layout by selecting 'Customize' from the IE
Toolbar context menu (right-click on the menu bar) and then selecting
"Reset" from Command bar "Customize" dialog.

A more permanent fix can be made by un-installing some of your Command Bar
Addons.

Post back with you findings.

Regards..

"Brian Pellerin" <> wrote in message
news:EB067398-02EE-4D44-AC0B-...
> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working.
> Then,
> all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often
> and
> I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
>
> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking
> the
> drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the
> home
> site does NOT work.
>
> Almost all options are greyed out:
> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other
> menu
> choices there are greyed out.
> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially
> Internet
> Options!
> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
>
> The Links toolbar works fine.
>
> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is
> a
> website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer,
> so
> I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
>
> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?
>

Thought I would chime in also, back, forward, refresh buttons stop working,
home button still works. New HP G60-549DX notebook out of the box 3 days old,
Windows7 (64-bit), all available windows updates have been installed. No
addons except for what was included with the preloaded software. Example,
blue back button is lit indicating that I could go back, click back and it
indends but nothing happens. Sometimes I close out and go back in with the
same problem, other times it works.

I have the same problem. Clean install of win 7 64. Been doing this since day
1. No idea whats causing it but it was like this out of the box

"Brian Pellerin" wrote:

> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
> all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
> I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
>
> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
> drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
> site does NOT work.
>
> Almost all options are greyed out:
> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
> choices there are greyed out.
> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
> Options!
> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
>
> The Links toolbar works fine.
>
> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
> website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
> I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
>
> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?

If "most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows" and "it
was like this out of the box" then you obviously have a defective
Windows CD and should exchange it for a good one at the place of purchase.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Joe wrote:
> I have the same problem. Clean install of win 7 64. Been doing this since day
> 1. No idea whats causing it but it was like this out of the box
>
> "Brian Pellerin" wrote:
>
>> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
>> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
>> all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
>> I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
>>
>> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
>> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
>> drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
>> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
>> site does NOT work.
>>
>> Almost all options are greyed out:
>> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
>> choices there are greyed out.
>> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
>> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
>> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
>> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
>> Options!
>> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
>>
>> The Links toolbar works fine.
>>
>> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
>> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
>> website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
>> I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
>>
>> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?

I got it straight from microsoft. Ordered it online and they mailed it.

I do not think thats the problem. All disks are the same. They dont differ
from one another. If the disk was defective i wouldnt have been able to
install it. I think this this is something to do with certain configurations,
but until more people report the problem theres not much to do about it

"Leonard Grey" wrote:

> If "most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows" and "it
> was like this out of the box" then you obviously have a defective
> Windows CD and should exchange it for a good one at the place of purchase.
> ---
> Leonard Grey
> Errare humanum est
>
> Joe wrote:
> > I have the same problem. Clean install of win 7 64. Been doing this since day
> > 1. No idea whats causing it but it was like this out of the box
> >
> > "Brian Pellerin" wrote:
> >
> >> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
> >> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
> >> all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
> >> I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
> >>
> >> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
> >> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
> >> drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
> >> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
> >> site does NOT work.
> >>
> >> Almost all options are greyed out:
> >> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
> >> choices there are greyed out.
> >> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
> >> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
> >> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
> >> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
> >> Options!
> >> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
> >>
> >> The Links toolbar works fine.
> >>
> >> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
> >> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
> >> website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
> >> I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
> >>
> >> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?
> .
>

Don't hold your breath.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Joe wrote:
> I got it straight from microsoft. Ordered it online and they mailed it.
>
> I do not think thats the problem. All disks are the same. They dont differ
> from one another. If the disk was defective i wouldnt have been able to
> install it. I think this this is something to do with certain configurations,
> but until more people report the problem theres not much to do about it
>
> "Leonard Grey" wrote:
>
>> If "most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows" and "it
>> was like this out of the box" then you obviously have a defective
>> Windows CD and should exchange it for a good one at the place of purchase.
>> ---
>> Leonard Grey
>> Errare humanum est
>>
>> Joe wrote:
>>> I have the same problem. Clean install of win 7 64. Been doing this since day
>>> 1. No idea whats causing it but it was like this out of the box
>>>
>>> "Brian Pellerin" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
>>>> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
>>>> all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
>>>> I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
>>>>
>>>> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
>>>> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
>>>> drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
>>>> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
>>>> site does NOT work.
>>>>
>>>> Almost all options are greyed out:
>>>> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
>>>> choices there are greyed out.
>>>> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
>>>> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
>>>> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
>>>> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
>>>> Options!
>>>> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
>>>>
>>>> The Links toolbar works fine.
>>>>
>>>> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
>>>> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
>>>> website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
>>>> I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?
>> .
>>

I see exactly the same issue from time to time as well. Suddenly Back,
Forward, Refresh toolbar buttons doing anything. Usually this happens when
there are a lot of IE windows opened. Corresponding menu commands and
keyboard shortcuts continue to work.

I am running IE 8 on 32-bit Windows 7 upgraded from Vista.

There is another interesting side effect that I think is related to the
issue above. When it happened a few minutes ago I found this thread and
attempted to post my reply, but the popup window (used to enter the post) was
unusable - all controls had no content including buttons [Post] and [Close]
that had no text inside. When I restarted IE that original problem was fixed
and this form started working as well.


"PA Bear, MS MVP" wrote:

> See the section "Method 5: Internet Explorer troubleshooters in
> Windows 7" in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936213
>
> Win7 users would ideally seek support here:
> http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...plorer/threads
> --
> ~PA Bear, MS-MVP [posted via Google Groups]
>
>
> On Oct 31, 1:27 pm, Brian Pellerin wrote:
> > Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if I
> > start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working. Then,
> > all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite often and
> > I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that occur:
> >
> > Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
> > refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking the
> > drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons themselves.
> > For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the home
> > site does NOT work.
> >
> > Almost all options are greyed out:
> > 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other menu
> > choices there are greyed out.
> > 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
> > Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
> > 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
> > Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially Internet
> > Options!
> > 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
> >
> > The Links toolbar works fine.
> >
> > If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
> > multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there is a
> > website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's computer, so
> > I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the trigger event.
> >
> > Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?
>
> .
>

A1. See these related discussions:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%...e=utf8&oe=utf8

A2. The clumsy web-interface you're using to access this newsgroup is
plagued with all sorts of performance problems. Chances are that IE had
nothing to do with it.

TIP: Setting up Windows LIVE Mail to access Microsoft newsgroups
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/ms...ows-live-mail/

TIP: Obtain support for IE8 in Win7 here =>
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...plorer/threads
(when it's working)


Stan wrote:
> I see exactly the same issue from time to time as well. Suddenly Back,
> Forward, Refresh toolbar buttons doing anything. Usually this happens when
> there are a lot of IE windows opened. Corresponding menu commands and
> keyboard shortcuts continue to work.
>
> I am running IE 8 on 32-bit Windows 7 upgraded from Vista.
>
> There is another interesting side effect that I think is related to the
> issue above. When it happened a few minutes ago I found this thread and
> attempted to post my reply, but the popup window (used to enter the post)
> was unusable - all controls had no content including buttons [Post] and
> [Close] that had no text inside. When I restarted IE that original problem
> was fixed and this form started working as well.
>
>
> "PA Bear, MS MVP" wrote:
>
>> See the section "Method 5: Internet Explorer troubleshooters in
>> Windows 7" in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936213
>>
>> Win7 users would ideally seek support here:
>> http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...plorer/threads
>> --
>> ~PA Bear, MS-MVP [posted via Google Groups]
>>
>>
>> On Oct 31, 1:27 pm, Brian Pellerin wrote:
>>> Most IE options have stopped working in all open IE windows, however, if
>>> I
>>> start an InPrivate browsing session, the new browser starts working.
>>> Then, all new browsers opened after this also work. This happens quite
>>> often and I'm unsure of what is causing it. Here are the errors that
>>> occur:
>>>
>>> Back, home, refresh do not work, but if I right click and hit back or
>>> refresh or hit F5, it works fine. Backspace does not work. Clicking
>>> the drop box next to back and forward works, but not the buttons
>>> themselves.
>>> For the home button, clicking the drop box next to it and selecting the
>>> home site does NOT work.
>>>
>>> Almost all options are greyed out:
>>> 1) Under Page menu, I only see Compatibility View Setting. All other
>>> menu choices there are greyed out.
>>> 2) Under Security, I see Delete Browsing History, InPrivate Browsing and
>>> Privace Policy. All others are greyed out.
>>> 3) Under Tools, I see Reopen Last Browsing Session, Compatibility View
>>> Settings and Suggested Sites. All others are greyed out, especially
>>> Internet Options!
>>> 4) Under Help, all options are greyed out.
>>>
>>> The Links toolbar works fine.
>>>
>>> If this were a one-time event, I'd ignore it and move on, but it happens
>>> multiple times weekly. I'm running Windows 7 and IE8. Maybe there
>>> is
>>> a website corrupting the browser. This is occurring on my wife's
>>> computer, so I only see it after it has failed, with no clues as to the
>>> trigger event.
>>>
>>> Has anyone seen this? Any suggestions?
>>
>> .

I use Windows 7 64-Bit with Internet Explorer 8 and had the same issues
After reading some comments and suggestions, I tried disabling some o
the add-ons and it fixed the problem. I just disabled the ActiveX ad
ons. The rest were left in and they're fine

--
Alessa