Computer help forum: strange "Narrow Your Results" page keeps popping up

the latest IE update. I just uninstalled it and I am still getting the same results.

Mark

working on it as I type this.

Hopefully they get it resolve soon.

Thanks!
-Lee

Hi there Lee,

Just wondering how the download.com team is progressing on this problem?

Many thanks,

Jerry

They are still investigating... Not as trivial as I thought it would be.

You are still seeing it right? I know I am.

Hang in there.

-Lee

Thanks so much Lee,

I'll hang in there.

Jerry

Jerry for the time being while they are trying to figure this all out, when you're at the Download.com results page, go ahead and turn off "Compatibility view", here is how:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-to-use-Compatibility-View-in-Internet-Explorer-9

It should work after doing that.

-Lee

Thanks so much for the work-around...now I'll be able to use CNET searches until they discover the problem.

Have a nice day,

Jerry

All fixed Jerry. Just in time for the weekend!

Cheers!
-Lee

I've just tested with my own IE9 and it works fine.

My thanks to the techs for putting this right.

Mark

I just tested my download.com searches with IE9 and everything is back to normal.

Much appreciation to yourself and to Mark for taking the time to investigate and of course the techs for resolving this issue.

Hope you have a great weekend...here in Calgary, AB, yardwork is on the menu!

Best regards, Jerry

I'm just glad they got it fix it.

Cheers!
-Lee

If that is not what you mean, then the next time you see it, take a screen print, paste that into your favorite image editor and save it as a JPEG, then upload that to ImageShack, Photobucket or similar an dlet us have the link to the Full Sized image for that, so we can see what you mean.

Mark

Thank you for your reply. I've been attempting to save a screen shot for you but have never uploaded anything to ImageShack or Photobucket. Can you walk me through?
When I click on the link above (in my original message), the screen you mention (with left hand column) appears for exactly one second, then the mystery screen appears in its place.
I would appreciate help with accessing something to upload the screen shot for you.
Many thanks, Jerry

I created an account on ImageShack and was able to upload a partial screenshot using Paint. Hope this is sufficient to give you an idea of the screen I see.

Many thanks, Jerry

Mark, if you're still online, I uploaded to Photobucket...my username is "afterdinnerspeaker"

Many thanks, Jerry

When I click on the link above (in my original message today on this forum), the screen you mention (with left hand column) appears for exactly one second, then the mystery screen appears in its place.

Here is a screenshot of the "mystery" screen:

http://s1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg484/afterdinnerspeaker/?action=view¤t=NarrowYourResults.jpg

Has anyone experienced this problem?

Many thanks, Jerry

and thanks for your email Jerry. Sorry I didn't respond immediately, I had gone offline, (UK time).

It's a strange one indeed. At first I thought this might be some advertising pop-up that sometimes happens. CNET gets its advertising via Google and they, (CNET), have no control over what is advertised. It can sometimes be a problem as there are still malicious adverts around and members here can click them in error.

But it isn't that. this looks like is a type of page loading error.

When I look at the "Page Source" for that Download.com search results page you linked to I see this;

"{/style} {li} {label} {a href="/1770-20_4-0.html?query=Find&rpp=10&searchtype=downloads&filter=licenseName%3D%22Free+to+try%22%7Cplatform%3DWindows%7C&filterName=licenseName%3DFree+to+try%7Cplatform%3DWindows%7C"} {input name="filter" class="facetCheckbox" type="checkbox"} {div class="checkboxfacetName"}Free to try {span}(5091){/span}{/div} {/a} {/label} {/li} {style}"

Just a note that I replaced < and > brackets with { and } as the forums software sometimes tries to interpret them as HTML formatting.

That is the raw form, (the HTML form), of the web page before the browser interprets it and displays it properly as the normal left-hand side column of search filters, so normally I would say the browser hasn't loaded the page properly, then refreshes and displays the page correctly. But that doesn't seem to be the case with you as the LH column displays properly at first, for a second, then this raw data replaces it.

It is not a fault in the web page, but where the fault is I am not sure. In the Photobucket image you supplied I see you are using a modern browser, IE9, and I note this happens in both your computers.

So, where are we?

Does this problem reproduce in other browsers, eg Firefox or Chrome? If not, that points to an IE9 problem. If the problem 'does' reproduce in other browsers, then I am not sure where we are.

Problems with IE are often traced back to add-ons, but this doesn't seem to be a typical aded-on problem.

See if you can test with other browsers please.

Mark

Mark, I just want to tell you how much I appreciate the time you've taken to investigate this problem for me as well as writing such a comprehensive reply.

In the meantime, I replicated the problem on a third computer in my home (also Windows 7 with IE9). All three computers are about one year old, two of which are rarely used and have almost no other software installed.

I agree, it does look like something peculiar to IE9. However, it's interesting to note it only happens on CNET searches. I use CNET regularly (sometimes daily) and have never encountered this untli yesterday.

In the meantime, I will continue to troubleshoot and if possible, test with another browser. I should perhaps load Chrome on my computer since I already have a Google account. Will it be possible for me to easily return to IE9 afterward?

Anyway, from one "retired" guy to another, I know how valuable "time" is and I thank you for spending some of it on me. I will leave this post as unresolved and hope I can contact you again if I notice some other symptoms.

Best regards, Jerry

I tried to test this this morning in my own IE9, (Windows 7 Ultimate). I can't open IE9! I usually use Firefox and haven't used IE9 for a while.

Well, it opens, but then it immediately closes with a popup window that tells me about downloads and tries to download my own home web page, (my own, just used on the computer and not published on the internet).

I have been troubleshooting all day and still haven't resolved it. The only clue I have is a Windows Update last week for a number of issues including an IE critical update.

Any chance your system has had an IE update in the last week or so? And of course, when did this problem first start to show itself?

I'm going offline soon, so i will get back to you as soon as I can.

Mark

I've got the same problem.

I'm on my laptop (IE9 & Win 7 Home Premium) because I still haven't resolved the problem with my desktop. I had Windows Updates to install immediately and like an idiot I didn't check IE at Downloads.com before installing them.

But after the install I tried Download.com with any Windows software. The page displayed correctly for a second or so, then the web page display changed to the raw form of HTML just the same as yours.

So, either the Windows Update has changed IE or something has changed at CNET. I have one more test to try, uninstall just that update to see if that reverts IE. In the meantime I have alerted the Forum Admin to ask the Techs to check this with IE at their end.

Mark

this topic thread is not loading properly as of right now. Just look at your own, previous post. One line did not reformat itself properly within the post box's grey borders.

Might discuss all of these problems with the Site designer-maker-rebuilder. There might be way more bugs that we are not aware of, right now.

Me personally, no problems, everybody else, not quite the case. Older builds of browsers might not be meant for this, way too advanced web page format(once again, not my problem).