How to troubleshoot Internet Explorer issues in Windows Vista and in Windows XP

This article discusses how to troubleshoot possible issues that you may experience when you use Windows Internet Explorer 7 or Windows Internet Explorer 8 on a computer that is running Windows Vista.

You cannot surf the Internet
You experience slow performance or slow browsing
You receive an error message when you use Internet Explorer
You experience unexpected behavior in Internet Explorer
You experience file corruption issues

You cannot surf the Internet

You cannot use Internet Explorer to surf the Internet. Additionally, other applications cannot access the Internet. Any one of the following can cause this issue:

• Issues with your firewall software or with its configuration
• Issues with network adapter drivers
• Issues with the current installation of Winsock or of TCP/IP protocols
• Incorrect entries in the Hosts file on your computer
  
  For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  936211  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936211/ ) How to troubleshoot network connectivity problems in Internet Explorer

You experience slow performance or slow browsing

The browser may respond slowly. Also, you may experience slow browsing or slow load times for a Web page. Typically, slow performance and slow browsing issues occur when any one of the following is true:

• You have to perform maintenance on Internet Explorer by using built-in tools.
• Internet Explorer has conflicting or incorrect settings.
• A third-party program does not work with Internet Explorer.
• One of the .dll files that is related to Internet Explorer is missing, has been replaced with the wrong version, or is installed incorrectly. For more information about how to optimize Internet Explorer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  936213  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936213/ ) How to optimize Internet Explorer

You receive an error message when you use Internet Explorer

Note This section applies only to Windows Internet Explorer 7.

When you try to open Internet Explorer, you may receive a "Webpage cannot be displayed” error message. Additionally, Internet Explorer may stop responding when you open it or when you use it. This may occur for one of the following reasons:

• Issues or conflicts with other software that is installed.
• The user account is corrupted.
• The computer is infected by malicious third-party software or by viruses.
• Configuration settings issues and compatibility issues within Internet Explorer.
  
  Note These issues may occur because Internet Explorer maintenance has to be performed, Internet Explorer has conflicting or incorrect settings, or one of the Internet Explorer .dll files is missing or is corrupted.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

You experience unexpected behavior in Internet Explorer

Unexpected behavior in Internet Explorer may be caused by add-ins or by toolbars. To correct this behavior, reset or optimize Internet Explorer to make sure that Internet Explorer is installed correctly. For more information about how to resolve these problems, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

You experience file corruption issues

File corruption or operating system settings may cause errors in Internet Explorer. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: