Post by c***@aaeq.comPost by JJPost by c***@aaeq.comI'm still using Win xp Pro.
I rarely use MS Internet Explorer 8. I haven't used it for a few
months. I usually use it when Firefox will not go into the plain
text mode to copy a Web page. IE always has let me copy text only
from those protected Web pages. That's about the only use I've
ever had for IE.
However, I now find that IE 8 will not load almost any page I try
to view. It only loads a few of the more obscure ones from my
Favorites. What the heck happened?
Does it fail when using https://? Or does it fail even if it uses http://?
Sorry about the late answer. Got really busy with something else.
Whether a page is https or http has no bearing on this problem.
Since I posted the original post., I find that the same thing has
happened on my wife's computer. She also is using Win XP Pro. Only
a few of her bookmarks will now produce a Web page for viewing.
Firefox works fine. No problems. Only our MS Internet Explorer 8
has this problem. Matter of a fact, the machine of my wife's which
uses Windows XP Pro has not been in use for a few months. It hadn't
even been turned on. She has been using her Win 7 laptop. So the
idea it is malware causing this is rather doubtful. Her's was
working normally when she stopped using it. Mine was working a
couple of weeks back. I'm not sure of the timeline because - as I
previously said, I only use IE for the few pages that are protected
from Firefox's "Enter Reader View" tool, which allows copying of a
page's text article without any of the other garbage on the page.
IE 8 still allowed me to copy the text on "protected" pages.
I'm wondering if somehow for some reason Web sites have blocked the
older IE versions from being used. Whatever it is, it's a
ridiculous situation that doesn't make sense.
(I find that many of Amazon's pages still work.)
?????
Sites have been upping what minimal versions of web browsers they will
support that connect to their site. IE8 is V-E-R-Y old dating back to
October 2009. Since the sites work with Firefox (which has discontinued
support for Windows XP - so no more security updates), use that. They
don't want you visiting their site with IE8, especially since it likely
doesn't have the functions needed to support the content of their site.
Even Firefox ESR52, the latest you can get on Windows XP, will get
barred from web sites when they consider it too old.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/end-support-windows-xp-and-vista
You could try using an add-on that lies about the User-Agent header sent
by the web browser to the server. That is, you could try to pretend you
have something later and even attempt to pretend IE8 is some other web
browser altogether. However, detecting web browser and version using
the UA header has long been deprecated and instead sites should test
what features the client can support to determine if that client is
allowed to connect to the server. The site checks your client can
support their site and, if not, rejects the connection request. They
don't want you there unless you use a client that can support the
features of their site. Hey, it's their property. They can put any
restrictions on it they want. They have enough risk without supporting
visitors with insecure, vulnerable, and non-supported clients. This
really isn't new. Sites have been gradually upping the minimum for what
clients they want connecting to their server for many years.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/967897/cannot-access-some-websites-in-internet-explorer
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/956196/internet-explorer-cannot-display-the-webpage-error
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2293762/an-error-occurs-when-using-windows-internet-explorer-8-or-windows-inte
Those make suggestions but don't get high hopes it will help. Sites
have been rejecting connections from too-old clients for a long time.
The older the client, the more likely it gets rejected.
Your bookmarks are static. Web sites are not. My guess is you noticed
a rejection and then started checking your other bookmarks that you
haven't visited for a long time. That you can connect to Amazon shows
you are not encountering local problems with networking. You're getting
out but after testing more of them you've noticed more of your bookmarks
aren't working.
You'll probably have to rely on Firefox ESR52 from now on - until sites
start rejecting it, too, for being too old a client without the
necessary functions to support the sites.