internet explorer

[porterman]

I am a retired and use mainly a 10 yr. old desktop running windows 7 ( have an Asus 7" tablet recently purchased too) which I upgraded to last January from xp. I only use it for shopping and general web surfing and suits my needs and has been fairly reliable, only needing a new power unit about 3 years ago. I have added an extra memory card myself and changed the cmos battery twice. My problem, if you could call it that, is that my computer will only run smoothly using IE8 (and Chrome) but I prefer IE. If I try IE9, 10 or 11 every thing slows down with pauses between each action or click of the mouse which is annoying so end up back with IE8. I know it is now a security risk but no problems so far thank goodness. I do not really want to splash out making any further upgrades or a new computer. Is it because my now 'ancient' graphics card cannot cope with the more up to date releases of IE or could there be another reason?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, there could be many reasons for IE11 slowing things down as it is indeed a little more hungry for resources, so to get a better idea of what you can do or not can you please let us know as much as possible about the 10 year old computer. If a manufactured one the make and model number of it please.

 

Or if a built for you either by yourself or someone else we need to know the motherboard make and number and the processor.

 

You say also you have fitted an extra RAM or memory module so how much memory does it have now, the size you put in and what was there before will also be of help.

 

I will say that the most likely reason will be not enough memory, however the processor may also be having some influence if a fairly slow one, hence why we would need to know that.

 

Once we know as much as possible, there just might be some odd settings in IE11 that can also be changed to help things along too.

 

Nev.

[porterman]

Thanks for reply. Computer was built to order by a local computer firm so not a recognised make. Motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-VM/400. I am sure that means more to you than it does to me! Computer initially only came with 250 Mb of memory (yes really), forgot to say earlier it has had 2 memory upgrades, 1st one about 4 years ago when a 1Gb card was added and then last year I took the 250Mb card out and put another 1Gb card in so now has 2Gb of memory. I checked somewhere and that is the maximum the motherboard can take. Does this info help you?

[porterman]

Thanks for reply. Computer was built to order by a local computer firm so not a recognised make. Motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-VM/400. I am sure that means more to you than it does to me! Computer initially only came with 250 Mb of memory (yes really), forgot to say earlier it has had 2 memory upgrades, 1st one about 4 years ago when a 1Gb card was added and then last year I took the 250Mb card out and put another 1Gb card in so now has 2Gb of memory. I checked somewhere and that is the maximum the motherboard can take. Does this info help you?

 

Hello Nev, are you still about? Haven't heard from you after putting the info you asked for in a post.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, sorry about that I must have missed seeing your reply.

 

A look at the specs for your motherboard shows you are right about the maximum RAM it will take, which is just about OK for Windows 7, the processor itself should be of the AthlonXP family, do you know exactly which one?

If not, Speccy will find all that and can be downloaded from here :-

 

http://www.piriform.com/speccy/download/standard

 

The download starts straight away. Install that and it should give us a lot of useful information, including the processor type and number.

 

Once you have it installed and opened, (It will take a short time to gather information) follow the instructions here for option 2 and then post that link here in your next reply please.

 

http://www.piriform.com/support/speccy#21111316

 

Hopefully with all it shows us we may better see what is slowing down IE 11. Though the processor itself is the likely culprit if it is one of the lower series of AthlonXP.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Hi porterman

 

In addition to what Nev has said ....

 

You say you upgraded from XP to Win7.

Did you check that your system was Win7 compatible ?

 

There is a compatibility tool here - click here

 

It may give us some more information if you run it and let us know the results.

[porterman]

Hi Nev, thanks for reply. Had to uninstall Speccy as it froze everything up as soon as it installed. I remembered then that I had computer info from Belarc Advisor lying around somewhere, presume Speccy does the same thing. Processor is, as you guessed, an Athlon XP 2800+. There is mentioned (333FSB) also if that means anything. Is there anything else you need?

[porterman]

HI, yes I ran the compatability tool and it said my system was ok for Windows 7. Thanks for input.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, that processor though not very fast at 2.2GHz should be OK, however, your report that Speccy froze the system tells me there is something wrong elsewhere.

Which anti virus do you have, also which firewall, and do you have any other security software installed such as Malwarebytes or Superantispyware, or similar, and when did you last scan for virus or other malware?

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Hi

 

EDIT - sorry Nev ...we were posting at the same time :)

 

take a look here - click here

 

Ignore the "Start Download" if it is there - this is not part of the tutorial.

You will need IE9 installed

This may be appropriate for IE 10 / 11 too.

[porterman]

Virus scanner and firewall are with BT NetProtect plus which uses McAfee. Scanned yesterday, nothing found. I also use Advanced system care 7 and IObit Malwarefighter, probably don't need both, just being over cautious I suppose.. Malware scan done earlier today, again nothing found.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, No doubt Ken will say more, however I am not happy seeing the Iobit stuff, especially the advanced system care, that contains a so called registry cleaner which can do more damage than any good. In short no one should ever need any sort of registry cleaner as the potential for them to do unrecoverable damage is far greater than anything else, as in actual fact the registry should never need to be touched except in extreme circumstances, and only by being guided by an expert.

 

The Iobit Malware scanner is a poor copy of Malwarebytes, and in actual fact Iobit were successfully prosecuted for copyright infringement of Malwarebytes system. I recommend getting rid and installing the free version of Malwarebytes in its place, also remove the System care thing too.

 

The McAfee stuff, is also not regarded as the best, though you might be tied to that with your ISP.

 

See also the link KenB provided, and also now he can see your last post he may also have more advice as well.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Nev has said it all re Advanced system care 7 and IObit Malwarefighter.

 

My advice is the same as his - dump these and go for Malwarebytes ( Free ) - click here

 

You seem to have missed my last post.

[porterman]

Hi Ken, sorry I did see your last post and will try your suggestions. Also have taken Nev's advice and uninstalled Advanced System Care and IObit malware fighter and installed the free Malwarebytes. Just scanned with that and nothing found. Thanks for all the advice and will let you know if I can get IE9 running ok with the tweaks you suggested.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, see how well that goes, then try IE11 again and see how that performs. If still slow there are many more things we can try.

 

Nev.

[porterman]

OK Nev, thanks.

[porterman]

HI Ken & NEV, its me again. Tried IE as suggested after going through my add ons and it is still as it was the last time I tried it, everything runs slow, click on anything and it can be up to 30 seconds before it responds. Sometimes it doesn't respond at all, like clcking on 'favorites' produced no result. Gave up and went back to IE8. My listed add ons are:-

Toolbars & extensions.

Shockwave ActiveX control

Shockwave flash object

Adobe PDF reader

Google Toolbar

Google Toolbar Helper

Google Toolbar Notifier BHO

Windows mediaiplayer

Microsoft Silverlight

Jave Plug-inSSV helper

Java Plug-in 2SSV helper

 

Search provider is only Google, There are no accelerators or In Private filtering add ons. Some of those listed I understand but some I do not. Any more ideas guys as to what the problem might be? Why would IE8 work ok but not 9, 10, or 11?

[KenB]

Hi again

 

Have you tried ( temporarily ) turning off your A-Virus and Firewall to see if there is any difference ?

[porterman]

Hi Ken, no haven't tried that , will have another try soon and let you know the result.

[KenB]

Give it a try - don't forget to activate them again if you are surfing the net :)