Internet Explorer 7 hangs on Startup After installation

November 23, 2006 at 9:45 pm 97 comments

Recently, my mom’s IE7 hang after it was upgraded from ie6 to ie7. When she attempt to launch IE7, it would launch to an empty browser screen with a “Connecting” tab. If you check the CPU task window, the cpu was running at 100%. Even if you wait for hours, the 100% never goes away.

The problem was eventually traced down to add-ons. Apparently, some of the add-ons are not compatible with IE7 and caused it to hang when it was executed. Here’s what I did to fix the problem:

1. Launch IE 7 without the add-ons by selecting the menu item Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Internet Explorer (No Add-Ons).

2. Click on the toolbar icon (looks like a wheel with teeth) and select Internet Options. Click on the program tabs, then the Managed Add-on Buttons. This will display a list of add-ons.

The problem add-ons is probably one of the ones with “(Not Verified)” in the publisher field. If you click on the entry, you can set the add-on to enable or disable. I basically disabled each “(Not Verified)” entry until I found the add-on that was causing the problem. In this case, the add-on that was hanging IE7 was “Yahoo! Companion” toolbar.

Entry filed under: Internet Explorer, Windows.

My thoughts on Suse 10.1 Undervolting Averatec 2370 (Turion64x2) using RMClock

97 Comments Add your own

1. Alan | November 26, 2006 at 1:01 am

Thanks for the heads up. Exact same thing happened to me. You would think Microsoft would not release stuff that’s incompatible with existing Yahoo! products.

You would think.
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2. David Hill | November 28, 2006 at 7:55 am

A great help – exactly the same thing happend to me and it was Yahoo Companion that was causing the problem. As above you would have thought that they would have known this before hand
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3. Michael | December 5, 2006 at 1:34 am

Thanks Paul! I also encountered the exact same problem, and the culprit for me was also Yahoo Companion. It’s surprising that (at least) 4 people now have been hit by this problem, but it completely escaped Microsoft’s testing. Like Alan said, we are talking about Yahoo Companion, not some obscure plug-in by some no-name site. And to add a bit of irony to all of this, I found the your blog and the solution to my woes by using Google!
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4. Elbert Hannah | December 5, 2006 at 6:33 pm

Unbelievable!
You’d have thunk.
So, this page and info has been a lifesaver, one of many I’ve needed through the years to keep my Microsoft machines tolerably usable. I too found this page via Google. Too bad Microsoft isn’t cleaning up their own doodoo.
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5. Mike | December 6, 2006 at 12:49 pm

Thanks for the help – this page saved me hours of work – even though I had to use another PC to find this page, as my ie 7 wasn’t working !!!!! Chicken v’s Egg 🙂

I also found this via Google and it was Yahoo! Companion
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6. John | December 6, 2006 at 7:04 pm

Same problem for me! Thanks!
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7. Dave | December 8, 2006 at 1:02 pm

Great help thanks for the info.
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8. Matt | December 8, 2006 at 6:18 pm

You just saved me a doozy of a headache, thank you!
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9. Dennis Cooper | December 9, 2006 at 5:50 pm

Exact same problem. Thanks much.
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10. Matthew Latham | December 11, 2006 at 3:49 am

That’s it! I was having the same problem and could not figure it out so I removed IE7 and went back to IE6. All was back to normal on IE6. I found you via Google. Thanks for helping me reclain my sanity.
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11. Steve G | December 11, 2006 at 1:51 pm

Same problem, same add-on. Thanks.
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12. Alicambol | December 11, 2006 at 4:34 pm

Thanks very much. Has same problem. Works now but still buggy. Uninstalled IE7 and have gone back to a proper browser (i.e. Opera)
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13. Susan | December 12, 2006 at 2:13 pm

Same problem, uninstalled IE7
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14. John | December 12, 2006 at 7:39 pm

Add-ons were the problem. Unchecked all the unverified and it works great – thanks for the tip!
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15. andrew | December 13, 2006 at 5:14 pm

Same problem.
Uhhhh… Microjunk…..
another solution is to create a bat file:

iexplore.exe -extoff

which will run ie7 without addons

peace
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16. Chris | December 19, 2006 at 8:15 pm

Thanks guys. This was driving me crazy!

-Funk
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17. LuckyStiff | December 27, 2006 at 4:49 pm

Thanks for posting your fix for the problem I upgraded a family member’s PC and had the same problem. In her case, Outlook Express would not even retrieve mail after the Internet EXPLODER 7 install.

Kudos!
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18. dmc | December 28, 2006 at 3:45 am

Let me add my thanks. And of course it was Yahoo Companion (Toolbar and BHO (Browser Help Object) that was hanging the install on my wife’s computer. A plague on Microsoft, and Yahoo isn’t helping much either….

cheers,
dmc
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19. JM | December 30, 2006 at 10:55 am

Hi,

Big big thanks for the info – and yes it was Yahoo Companion (Toolbar and Browser Helper Object), hmmm a slight trend here 😉

Cheers

J
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20. lizzie | December 30, 2006 at 4:47 pm

Same problem.Same add-on. But mine was only using 50% not 100%. I got on-line to find a solution by using Netscape. Nice little problem to get for Christmas.
Thank you for the very clear and well written directions on how to solve it.
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21. Randy | January 2, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Thanks! This fixed my issue. Sometimes it’s best not to be the first kid on the block with the new toy!
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22. Murdo | January 2, 2007 at 6:27 pm

Thanks so much, the instructions are very clear and it was spot on. Problem solved thanks again.
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23. Bo | January 5, 2007 at 1:43 am

Wow – thanks heaps, that was the exact problem! Found your blog by doing a Google Search (after 1st installing Firefox as my new Browser – had never used another till now). Couldnt trace the problem via Microsoft… Cheers.
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24. Ray | January 8, 2007 at 8:16 pm

I’v been searching support on Microsoft’s site. No luck. The good folks at MS evidently don’t know about this problem.
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25. Stefanie | January 12, 2007 at 10:23 pm

Bravo!! Saved my butt!
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26. Graham | January 13, 2007 at 6:21 pm

Had been trying to work this out for a couple of days.

Never heard of that No-addons, I have been working with PC’s for 20 years!

Excellent, simple instructions.

Yahoo it was, does make you wonder how it got through!

Many thanks.
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27. anlegov | January 15, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Great. Saved what little hair I have left.

anlegov
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28. Ricardo | January 20, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Cheers geeza, same thing for me too.
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29. sinnadyr | January 21, 2007 at 2:22 pm

Thanks man, it was helpful, but my problem is that it seems like I have to have the addons activated for a site I’m trying to reach (job stuff). Have u got any solutions or suggestions?

Either Firefox nor Opera wont work, but my friends IE7 work, so I got to have it!

Please e-mail me or something 🙂
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30. sinnadyr | January 21, 2007 at 2:26 pm

Sorry mate, didnt read it all 😛 It looks like it’s working now ;D

Thanks a lot!
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31. Ron | January 23, 2007 at 5:49 am

this happened to me, thanks for the solution. It was the Yahoo toolbar.
Thanks
Ron
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32. Jim Hare | January 29, 2007 at 10:25 am

Similar issue for me, hangs on start up, but when i click on a link in an email (ie a hyperlink) it launches fine. To make matters worse, when i launch with out add-ons, it STILL hangs. This was after upgrading from XP to Vista (already had IE7), thoughts?
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33. paulsiu | January 31, 2007 at 2:35 pm

Jim, I don’t have Vista. However, IE7 has a new protected mode in Vista. Have you try running it with protected mode off?
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34. kesshi | February 6, 2007 at 7:19 am

thanks, the same thing happend on a collegue computer
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35. Shawn | February 6, 2007 at 10:45 am

Same problem here – thanks for posting!
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36. Anthony | February 21, 2007 at 8:49 am

Same problem even with all add-ons turned off. It can take upto 20 minutes waiting for ie7 to start (if at all). I have resorted to using Lynx for windows(text only browser) to browse while I wait for ie7 to start. If you only need to read text or download, this browser is quick.
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37. Paul W | February 24, 2007 at 8:49 am

At last it works -thanks to you
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38. Shilks | March 4, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Thanks for the tip.
Yahoo was the culprit for me as well. Now fixed.
Thanks again.
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39. H@@kon | March 5, 2007 at 5:10 am

THANK YOU! Been struggling with this for over a week.
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40. WebGyver » Blog Archive » Internet Explorer 7 Hangs/Connecting . . . | March 17, 2007 at 12:28 pm

[…] forums.slimdevices.comInternetExplorer 7 hangs on startup… […]
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41. srini | March 25, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Hi,
I recently upgraded my IE6 from IE7. I am still unable to visit any website even after disabling all add-ons. I am not sure what the problem is. Can anybody help me in resolving this issue.

Thank you,
Srini
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42. paulsiu | March 25, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Srini,

Did you check WebGyver’s site, he also had a problem with IE7 that wasn’t add-on related:

http://www.humdinger-media.com/wblog/?p=58
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43. Tim David | March 28, 2007 at 7:56 am

I have this same problem, and will take this step to try and fix it. I agree, once again, MS has managed to completely overlook a problem that has now begun to affect a large number of people doing very routine tasks. I’ll let you know how this comes out. Thank you!
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44. Jeff Vance | April 4, 2007 at 11:05 am

This is right on target. I installed Firefox to surf and found you through Google. like others said Microsoft was no help.

I removed the Yahoo toolbar to fix it.
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45. Amber Chen | April 5, 2007 at 3:25 am

Thank you for posting the solution… caused 1/2 hour of frustration.
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46. John | April 12, 2007 at 9:53 am

I was having the same problem, and disabled Yahoo Toolbar and Yahoo Companion (BHO), and everything works great! Thanks!
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47. Peter Anderson | April 24, 2007 at 5:59 pm

Same thing happened to me when I updated from IE6 to IE7 via MS atuomatic updates. Caused a hell of a lot of frustration as I uninstalled and downloaded IE7 from the MS web site only to have the problem happen again. No wonder I have been using Firefox no such problems when I have an update. Unfortanately some of the sites I acess will only accept Internet Explorer. Thanks for the fix, Microsoft knowlege base was a fat lot of help!
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48. bhav | May 15, 2007 at 8:07 am

thansk for the help…sorted my browser problem out
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49. Tony | August 23, 2007 at 9:31 pm

It’s aug 2007 and this article is still helping out people like me. Thanks for taking the time to post this. P.S. I also had trouble installing I.E. 7 because WebRoot spysweeper was siliently blocking I.E. 7 installation from writing to the registry. I had to turn off IE Hijack Shield see http://support.webroot.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=776&task=knowledge&questionID=2661 for more details.
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50. Scott | August 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Thank you my friend – this had me flummoxed for weeks and (again it was the Yahoo companion.

Scott, London
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51. David | September 8, 2007 at 7:53 pm

Thanks,

I encountered the exact same problem and your solution save me hours of debugging.

Who knew about starting IE without add-ons – in accessories > system tools of all places. Viva Microsoft standardization. NOT!
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52. Randy Poindexter | September 12, 2007 at 1:16 pm

I am having the same symptoms but I do not have Yahoo Companion installed. In fact, I went back and went one by one until I had completely removed ALL add-ons (not verified and verified included). After doing all of this, running several utilities for cleaning up trojans, etc., the problem still persists.

I am going to install Firefox and see if it allows me to use my computer normally again. If anyone has other ideas about how to make IE7 function properly I would like to hear.
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53. ssaxena | October 9, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Thanks a lot! Very helpful.

I disabled a few including :
– ones that did not publish company names
– SideStep
– everything Yahoo
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54. Hamed | October 28, 2007 at 10:40 am

A great help – exactly the same thing happend to me and it was Yahoo Companion that was causing the problem
thanks very much
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55. Capn Cheops | October 30, 2007 at 1:42 pm

Thanks a bunch. I look like a mofokin’ hero because of this.Easy…. I gave you credit. Thanks……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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56. hajosh | November 2, 2007 at 11:02 pm

thnx 4 the fix..
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57. System Administrator | November 9, 2007 at 3:43 am

Thank you for this tip. Should have googled the problem immediately. Did not suspect a problem with Microsoft IE 7 as all installations on our LAN works fine. This particular installation was for a stand-alone for one of our provincial branches.
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58. none | November 9, 2007 at 4:07 am

thanks! you really helped me
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59. Diane | November 10, 2007 at 7:10 pm

I was hopeless and really angry about this for many months and now I am so glad you went to the trouble to help all of us. Thank you tremendously for this. I didn’t discover which bugger was the culprit but just got rid of every “not verified” on the list and it seems OK. All I need is to run UPDATE and allow some other packages to do their updates using IE. Other than those necessities I’d never use this worthless piece of MS junk.
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60. bobby | November 23, 2007 at 10:25 am

Thanks for the help and fix
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61. hbm | December 6, 2007 at 11:40 pm

Thanks, just had the same problem. It was the Yahoo Companion. You saved me much time and effort. Thanks for posting this solution.
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62. Sergio | December 9, 2007 at 8:31 am

I really appreciate your help guys! Had the same problem and after disabling this Yahoo, IE7 runs well. Thank you all!
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63. Poul | December 29, 2007 at 3:33 pm

Yeah, IE7 is realy good! Thanks for help and fix!
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64. Mirek | January 7, 2008 at 12:41 am

Unbelievable!
Today is 7th of January 2008 and I was faced with the same problem. Your post was dated November 2006. Amazing that Microsoft hasn’t fixed this yet. Thank you once again for providing us with your solution
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65. Zappie | January 27, 2008 at 1:31 am

Yes, it’s just incredible that this doesn’t work. I just had the exact same problem, and it’s over a year since the original post.

And if IE was only using 50% of your CPU, that’s probably because you have a dual core processor, like mine. 🙂
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66. Zappie | January 27, 2008 at 1:32 am

Yes, it’s just incredible that this doesn’t work. I just had the exact same problem, and it’s over a year since the original post.

And if IE was only using 50% of your CPU, that’s probably because you have a dual core processor, like mine. 🙂
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67. Mick | January 28, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Thanks alot.
As all before me you have save me one hell of a lot of heart ache.

Best wishes
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68. AnonymousCoward | February 17, 2008 at 2:36 am

Thanks – same problem, same add-on

Anonymous
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69. Brian | February 18, 2008 at 8:45 am

Thanks for the tip
Saved me a lot of grief trying to track it down
Bloody microsoft and Yahoo…….
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70. GibraltarSystems | February 20, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Hi,
One of my clients had this same issue. Your solution was insightful and helpful. Two additions which might be helpful:
(1) In my client’s case, it was after installing Adobe Acrobat 8.0 onto IE7.
(2) The fix did not work until AFTER rebooting the computer.
Thanks again!
R-
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71. jkhenry | February 26, 2008 at 4:34 pm

thanks for posting this. it just helped me fix someone’s computer I work with.

jkh
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72. Barney | March 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm

More thanks from another grateful sufferer!
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73. Andy | March 21, 2008 at 6:48 pm

Thank you – this is exactly the problem a friend is having – duplicated your remedy , and IE7 / windows updates work again.I had already looked at add-ons , but not altered anything , assuming stuff like that would have been checked during the 4 billion hours of beta testing …………..
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74. Abhishek | April 8, 2008 at 5:39 am

Thanks for the post but the problem i found with unchecking the disable script debugging (interne explorer) .
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75. Scott | April 27, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Thanks. Over 5 hours trying to figure this out, and then like everyone else google gets me here and in 5 minutes everything is working.

My issue was with some Norton plug ins that wouldn’g go away after an uninstall. (Go figure)

Anyway – thanks!
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76. Christee | May 2, 2008 at 10:35 am

wow- i too was having the same problem & found it to be Yahoo Toolbars companion- here’s something interesting:

when I.E would hang with the blank page, the only way to get out of it for me was opening the task manager- the 2 running processes were: yahoo toolbar, and yahoo.cm.toolbar (companion). i would highlight each one, click “end task”, and it would shut down . After it would shut down, that error report thing would pop up, and for once, rather than clicking “don’t send”, i chose to “send report”. Then another thing would pop up, providing me a link about the problem. I click the link, & Im reading down the page- of course it’s all the usual stuff you get whenever your computer is having a problem- spyware, adaware, blah blah blah… but at the bottom of the page, there is “More possible Solutions”- one of them is “if you have yahoo toolbar installed, there is a fix for this”- im like “finally some advice that might actually work”- but it gives you a link to the Yahoo Toolbar site, and then tells you to click on “Download Toolbar” (?)(!) I did it anyway, and of course, the problem still persists… i foiund it interesting that Microsoft apparently IS aware of the problem- only they send you in circles trying to fix it. Does anyone know why downloading the toolbar again would fix the problem? I can say that i had yahoo toolbar & companion turned on with no problems for a while before it started acting up.
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77. Martin | May 3, 2008 at 4:11 am

Dude Have anyone found out why this is doing it, first time with this issue, never hade a problem before but thanks solved issue.
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78. Roehl | May 13, 2008 at 10:47 pm

Thanks for posting the solution! Same problem – Yahoo toolbar caused IE to stall.
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79. Mr JONES | May 21, 2008 at 5:31 am

Thanks buddy – A very big help
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80. James Bennet | May 28, 2008 at 5:45 pm

yeah the google toolbar has problems with tabs in IE7
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81. Birks | August 28, 2008 at 4:44 am

Yup, Google Toolbar was the cause of the problem for me.
Thank you! Was starting to tear what’s left of my hair out!
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82. jackson | September 13, 2008 at 7:46 pm

I had the same problem – your steps fixed it. Thanks for posting…
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83. shayn | September 29, 2008 at 8:01 am

Hvala!
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84. philr | November 5, 2008 at 2:07 am

Thanks for the post. I had been having lots of weird IE hanging issues over the last few weeks… but since I only use IE for some limited things (thank god for FF and Chrome), I was able to avoid it most of the time. However, my firm runs a bunch of stuff with Oracle Apps, and the java applets from Oracle never seem to run too well from FF (and don’t run at all in Chrome yet). So… I had to fix the problem. I didn’t track down exactly which extension was causing me grief, but just shut down a bunch of them that didn’t seem to be too important, like Yahoo toolbars and some Lenovo system add-on.

Thanks again, you saved my bacon!
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85. Jesus | December 16, 2008 at 6:08 pm

Works Fine!,, thanks
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86. Megalodon | February 5, 2009 at 6:05 pm

Thanks very much!
I was having the some problem, now it’s solved!
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87. mark | March 12, 2009 at 8:29 am

What are you guys talking about, yahoo companion is the problem not IE7. It should be yahoo fixing their toolbar not IE7 needing to be fixed.

That is why Yahoo companion is marked as “Not verified” because Yahoo are too cheap to make sure their toolbar even works properly.
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88. Jessica | March 12, 2009 at 11:21 am

Thank you so much! exactly the problem I had too. Disabling Yahoo companion fixed it like magic. Thank you!
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89. mari | March 20, 2009 at 1:55 am

Hai,
how to solve that system hasbeen hanging when i open the internet explorer homepage
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90. Hoane | April 15, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Same thing here (more than 2 years after first post!), but no yahoo toolbar installed. Any other add-ons that could be the cause? Just upgraded to IE8, but that didn’t solve the problem.
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91. Ashwin | May 25, 2009 at 12:29 am

i had to disable the google toolbar add on in IE7 (running on xp sp2) to address this issue.
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92. Giovanni | July 11, 2009 at 11:48 am

Thank you much! This solved my problem. Amazing MS can’t get this basic browser set up stuff right on the first try – and this is on a brand new computer that I would expect to have all the most up to date stuff on it.

Thanks again.
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93. Steve Holden | August 13, 2009 at 6:30 am

Nice – I had the same issue with IE 8 and this solved it. Thanks!
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94. Rob | August 19, 2009 at 2:48 pm

Thanks a million. Mine was caused by a Sun Microsystems add on.
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95. arvin | November 29, 2009 at 10:27 pm

Thanks for the help and fix
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96. fashion games | December 22, 2009 at 6:42 am

I’m having the same problem with IE7 on Vista.
Any other ideas?
thanks.
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97. a | November 12, 2010 at 3:34 am

thanks very much
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