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"illegal operation" at photo.net shutting down my IE5


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the last couple of days I can not view more than a few pages at

photo.net withou getting the message "this program has performed an

illegal operation and will be shut down" and eventually kicking me

out of IE. Never happened before, doesn't happen on ANY other web

sites, only photo.net. No rhyme or reason, happens when browsing

forums, gallerys, anywhere.

 

Dana

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I haven't heard of this before, but it is doubtful that we will be able to do anything about it. IE5 is a pretty old browser and that error message means basically that it is doing something seriously bad and Windows is shutting it down.

 

It should not be possible for a web site to do that to any browser; but it may be that there is something on our site that is triggering this bug. It will probably be quite difficult to find and fix it. Microsoft no longer supports this browser. The only thing that has really changed across the entire site is the new Google ad format, and it may be that. If so, we would be in the position of having to choose between IE 5 users who were experiencing this and the Google revenue stream.

 

If possible, I suggest that you upgrade to a different browser or a later version of IE.

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I use IE5.5, and don't have this problem. However, I have my firewall set up to filter out photo.net ads, so it might in fact be the ads. Does photo.net forward or reference scripts written/maintained by the advertisers? If so, this may be the cause. drudgereport.com once had a problem with homepage highjacking via hacked ads.
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Brian, sounds like that's probably the problem, because it's NEVER happened until the last couple of days, but sounds like I'm not the only one. Bummer, because I'm usually browsing pnet while in between stints at work, but I'm operating on an ancient pc running windows 98?...IF my computer can even take a higher IE, the person who is responsible isn't going to take the time to upgrade my computer for photo.net ONLY, and the boss isn't about to spring for a new computer anytime soon...there's absolutely no problem with any other sites. It's a shame that I really can't enjoy/particiapate on this site much anymore over something as an "old" IE5 (amazing how quickly in todays age something becomes old). Don't want to rant, I just really like this site and will miss the characters here and getting the valuable info every day that I have been able to glean from it in the past. Would be soooo nice if I had some other way! All the best!
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I checked from different pc... Pnet (other sites are working find) is not working since couple of days with IE5. It kicks systematically the user out of the IE5 system and close the soft after visiting a couple of pages of PNet.... As something changed in PNet system over the last couple of days?
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To help those who have a firewall, or have access to an friendly IT person at your company, do not allow traffic to http://a.tribalfusion.com or http://*.tribalfusion.com. It sounds like that is your problem, because I have absolutely no such problems running on I.E. 5.0.3700.1000. But I block all traffic to and from tribalfusion.com, as well as any other banner ad servers that I notice. However, I should caution that some firewalls don't block banner ads embedded from other sites. I had a firewall that did not, but my preferred firewall does.
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I'm getting it too with 5.00.3502.1000 (the version that came with the W2K SP3 update). This has been a crock ever since it went on;

the version that came with W2K was much more stable.

 

This version frequently winges about Javascript code, and is

much slower. It acts like a debug build. The cache is LIFO rather

than FIFO, which sort of defeats the purpose; I don't know whether

IE6 gets this right.

 

Time to get IE6, but be careful as there are some very recent security patches it needs.

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Mike Morgan: Do you think it is tribalfusion? There is nothing new in the "creative" we use for TF, so if it is them it is either a specific ad or something that has changed on their side. My guess is that it is google, because we did actually change the code for the google ads a couple of days ago, at their request. Are you blocking the google ads also?
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I am blocking googlesyndication.com. However, by the time I get the html from photo.net, I do a view source, and I don't get any references to google. Is google referenced through tribalfusion?

 

I can send you a complete list of sites I am blocking if it will help you troubleshoot this issue.

 

Also, it might be spyware/highjack type situation. People with problems might also try to run: cwshredder. It will restore IE to a default state after hostile web pages have corrupted it. Do a search for cwshredder.zip.

 

Since I don't have the problem, it's hard to tell the real cause:) Just speculating.

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<cite>I "upgraded" to IE5.5... still the same. I can't really jump high since i'm also using an old PC with win98.</cite>

 

<p>IE5.5 was the end of the line for Windows 95, but IE6 is available for 98 (I have it on this machine, though I only rarely use it - for Windows Update, for testing Web pages in a variety of browsers, and for sites that are coded not to work properly on anything but IE). There are so many bugs and security holes in older IE versions, and in IE6 if you haven't kept it up to date, that you're asking for trouble if you use an old version.</p>

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Mike, I hope you don't think this is a cheeky request. But would you mind unblocking first tribalfusion, then googlesyndication for a few minutes each, see if you hit this problem, and report back? If it isn't convenient, please don't bother yourself, but if you could do it, it might help narrow the problem down. Thanks.
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<p>Okay, it is <a href="http://www.googlesyndication.com"> googlesyndication.com</a> causing the trouble. <br>

<br>

I have also verified this fix for those using IE5, for those of you who don't

have firewalls, etc.  (Well, somewhat verified--seems to work for me.)<br>

<br>

Go to <b>tools</b>-><b>internet options</b><br>

<br>

Select the <b> security</b> tab<br>

<br>

Select the <b> restricted sites</b> red circle graphic<br>

<br>

Add this site: <a href="http://www.googlesyndication.com"> http://*.googlesyndication.com</a><br>

<br>

Select the <b> add</b> button <br>

<br>

Select the <b> okay</b> button<br>

<br>

Select the <b> custom level</b> button<br>

<br>

Disable everything by selecting each <b> disable</b> radial button.  You

must use the slider on the right.  Disable everything for your restricted

sites.  (See attached screenshot crop).<br>

<br>

Select <b>okay</b>.<br>

<br>

This should fix your photo.net experience.  This is based on the problem

disappearing after I took these steps.  If it doesn't work for you, let me

know.<br>

<br>

Hope this helps.<br>

<br>

Mike</p><div>007Xlj-16816684.jpg.592d58dac92a867661d9648055e3d22f.jpg</div>

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