Re: Link in event viewer shows nothing in Help and Support Center

Dave

Your latest message is much more understandable, although you do write
rather long paragraphs <G>.

It is my understanding that Internet Explorer and Outlook Express do
work together. Thus if both are offline and you change Outlook Express
to Online then you will find Internet Explorer has also changed to
Online. That is the reality here. I read Outllook Express offline and
only go online to get new messages. This is different to the way of the
majority of users operate. You can read web pages offline but I only use
Internet Explorer online because to read offline would be far too
restrictive.

Apart from the different ways of reading with Outlook Express there is
another difference between us. You are using Opera as well as Internet
Explorer and my version of Interner Explorer is version 7. Which of the
two you are using is your default browser?

I vaguely recollect that even if a user chooses not to use Internet
Explorer it cannot be removed because Windows needs it to function
properly. My suspicion is that Opera or any other browser cannot replace
Internet Explorer for Event Viewer and Help and Support. If Opera is
your default browser this may explain your "little" problem. Having
never used another browser I have no experience to draw on. I suggest
you need to experiment by switching default browsers back and forth to
see whether this has any affect on the problem you are seeing.

The problem with Help And Support in August and early September was a
fault on the Microsoft end and not a software fault on the users
computer.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave wrote:
"Gerry" <gerry@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eks3wf0EIHA.4140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave

The meaning of this sentence is rather difficult to figure out. You
may know what you meant to say but I am not getting there.

Understandable. I'll try again. Certain programs including OE ,Help
and Support and at least two non-Microsoft programs, one of which I
forget because I don't use it often, and another which I use
constantly, will not make an internet connection without first
opening a browser and surfing. OE gives me an error message about
working off line and try again. When I press try again, it connects
and downloads headers. This only happens when I have not used my
connection for perhaps five or ten minutes. I am sure if I had the
prescience to open a browser before trying to download headers or
open a message to download the body, I would not get this error
message. Help and Support and the program that I use constantly (an
Internet radio program), will not connect until I surf. Ther is no
error message with either. This only seems to happen when I have not
used my connection for a while. For instance, when I first turn on
my computer sometimes I will do nothing after I hit my desktop for
about 5 minutes. Then I will bring up the internet radio program and
it won't connect. There is no error message. Just nothing happens
when I try to connect. So I bring up IE and verify my connection and
then the radio program will connect. The same thing happens no
matter how long I have been running if I do not use my connection for
a while, I get the same symptoms with OE and the radio program. Help
and Support I only noticed when I first made my original post
and I did not realize at that time that this was the same thing.
Because of your original reply it dawned on me that Help and Support
might require my opening IE and sure enough, once I did that, Help
and Support connected. Now, the other program, which I forget, did
give me an error message that said it 'could not initiate a
conncection on its own'. And sure enough, all I needed to do was
open IE and this program connected.
You ask below about what browser I use. I use two, IE6 and Opera.
When I get the symptoms like above, I normally open IE to fix this
problem, but I've confirmed that with the radio program, Opera will
do just as well.

"What is causing certain programs including
help and support and for that matter OE and certain other non
microsoft programs that I have to not be able to make an internet
connection when opening a browser and surfing works fine and also
restores these other programs to being able to make a conection? "

What browser are you using?

Are you completely up to date with Windows Update?

No critical updates pending save IE7.


There was a problem in August with Help and Support but this was
fixed by Microsoft laste in September.

And I only noticed the problem with Help and Support on the day of my
original post.

So again, I have confirmed I have four programs that will not connect
until I open a browser. I guess you could quibble with my conclusion
about OE. I remain in a quandry as to what could cause this type of
behavior. I have an easy work around, but it still does not answer
that big why question. Any ideas?

By the way, I opened IE just prior to sending this message to ensure
that it would not get stuck in my inbox. That already happened once
today. I am convinced that this is caused by the same thing that is
causing my other connection problems.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Dave wrote:
"Gerry" <gerry@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u9ylRxzEIHA.1316@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave

Both Internet Explorer and Outlook Express have Work Offline
options on the File menu. They are linked. Thus if you select Work
Online in Outlook Express and double an Internet Explorer shortcut
in the Quick Launch tray then Internet Explorer opens Online. If
Outlook Exress is Offline and I double click the Internet Explorer
icon it opens Offline and says the Web Page is unavailable because
I am Offline. This situation also applies in a similar way to Help
and Support. The status of the programmes ie. Online or Offline is
not related to whether there is an established live internet
connection. My broadband internet conections is always on even
when all three computers connected to the router are swtched off.
In Outlook Express there is a Work Offline option on the File drop
down menu. If ticked it is Offline and if unticked it is Online. If
you select View, Layout, and check Status bar you will get a Work
Offline / Work Online option. If you select View, Layout, Customise
Toolbar you can add or remove an Offline button to or from the Tool
bar. In Internet Explorer there is a Work Offline option on the
File drop
down menu. The Status bar has an Offline / Online to enable
switching.

I am well aware of all that. The only time I ever enable work
offline is when I'm compacting folders in OE. I might do this once
a month. The main problem is still unadressed. What is causing
certain programs including help and support and for that matter OE
and certain other non microsoft programs that I have to not be able
to make an internet connection when opening a browser and surfing
works fine and also restores these other programs to being able to
make a conection? Have you ever heard of anytning like this? By
the way, I think that particular OE bug that causes a post to be
sent twice may be related to this situation.
Thanks.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave wrote:
"Gerry" <gerry@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e8MQ9OJEIHA.1316@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave

You may need to be Online and not Offline to get it to work.

I have an always on high speed cable connection but, in a way,
you're right. But that leads to other questions. Let me explain.
I was connected to the internet at the time but I may not have
used the connection for a while. All I had to do to get the info
from
Microsoft was to go to any site with my browser. Then I get the
info from Microsoft. This has happened with other apps I have
when I have not used my connection for a while. Outlook Express
gives
me an error message that says I'm not currently online and would I
like to try again. The other apps usually give no indication one
way or the other although one of them did say something that
indicated it could not make a connection by itself. What is
causing this behavior? Do you have any idea? Is there a setting
I can tweak to fix it? Where would I begin to look for a
solution? Could it have anything to do with my router? Might it
be something with Windows firewall? Why would any app not be able
to inititate
a connection on its own?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave wrote:
I have just noticed that when I click the link "
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp " in event viewer
nothing is displayed when Help and Support opens. IIRC it used
to give some further information that could be useful. Does
anyone know how to get back this functionality?

Thanks


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