Windows XP forum: IE8 Will Not Open - Windows Can't Connect HTTP, HTTPS or FTP

Some antivirus suite expired and killed off the internet connection. Can you tell more?

I can't find any listing for it.

There's Malwarebytes' Anti-malware, a free anti-malware scanner that we often recommend in these forums, and there is Advanced System Care, a general purpose optimiser and registry cleaner which we would not normally recommend, because of the danger of changing settings and deleting registry entries that can cause system problems.

So what is it you have installed?

About IE. Are you saying that IE will not open at all? If so, what is the full error message you see when you try to open it?

Is this a Home Page that fails to load, or is it that IE simply does not open?

With IE there are a couple of things you can try;

1] Goto Start > Control Panel, then Internet Options. This will open IE's Tools > Internet Options dialog.

In there under the General tab, delete the Home Page that is listed, or click the "Use Blank" button. Click Apply/OK, then try opening IE again.

2] If IE opens, try surfing, eg try typing www.google.com into the address bar. If that fails, goto Tools > Internet Options, then the Connections tab, and click the "Lan settings" button. If there are any entries under Proxy server, remove that tick, then tick the "Automatically detect settings" option. Click OK/Apply/OK, close down IE and try again.

3] If step 2 fails but IE still opens, try a "Reset" of IE. This is Tools > Internet Options > Advanced tab, then the Reset button. Beware, this resets IE back to default and may lose your Favorites, Cookies, History, and any login/passwords that are saved in IE. But it also removes all 3rd party add-ons, that those may be preventing IE from working properly. You can export IE's Favorites before resetting, then import them back afterwards, but everything else may be lost.

See if any of that helps.

Mark

Yes that's great Mike.

That About:Blank is likely because I asked you to delete your Home Page. You can soon fix that if you want. Goto a page that you want as your Home Page, then goto Tools > Internet Options, and under the General tab in the Home Page section, just click the "Use current" button. That will set the page you are on as your Home Page.

Just a note though. I've not tested this but I believe browsers nowadays can have more than one Home Page, so if you only want the one to open when you run IE, make sure there are no other IE tabs open, and/or no other IE windows open when you click that "Use current" button.

Good luck.

Mark