Greetings!

The basics:

Latest version of IE7 has been installed.
I'm very diligent about updating my Windows XP. I run Live Update weekly and have installed all security patches and Service Packs.
I use ZoneAlarm with Antivirus.
I use Webroot SpySweeper
I use Spybot Search and Destroy
I use Firefox as my everyday browser.

Before posting, I have scanned for viruses and for spyware with the above and have come up clean.

What started this problem is that we've been having problems with IE7 not detecting the Flash player, despite having the most recent version and Firefox being able to go to various sites (www.nick.com, for example) and have them work while it won't work with IE. I tried dealing with it at the Adobe site by downloading their removal tool and then reinstalling it, but it didn't work: for sites needing Flash, IE was nonfunctional.

Anyway, that problem had not been resolved when I went to a website last night that was bugging out in Firefox. So, I used an addon that opens IE to view the problem page. When I did that, a link popped up directing me to install Flash. Just for the hell of it, I clicked on the Flash update link and, what do you know, it seemed to update the add on and the site worked!

However, now when I click on my IE shortcut, the interface for IE is now IE6 (no tab browsing, no phishing control, interface completely different, etc.) even though the "About Internet Explorer" command tells me I have 7.0.

But what's really weird is that when I run Live Update, that IE interface that shows up is the IE7 interface with apparently all functionality restored!!! It's almost like I have two copies of IE!

Personally, I don't care. I use Firefox, but I don't like this very important piece of software acting like this. If anyone has an idea about the cause and the cure, I'd appreciate it!

Regards,

Chris V.

Hi, did you find any solution to this?

Thanks!

Found the answer on driverheaven.net:

Thanks, Smokey!

However, I'd like to know how to go back to IE7. Personally, I like the IE 7 interface better (more like Firefox ).

Any ideas about that? Thanks in advance!!

get rid of the shortcut that tries to do IE6


Internet Explorer 7 downloads

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx




but if your tab browsing is just messed up..turn it back on.

Turning on Tabbed Browsing
Try Tools > Internet Options > Tabs - Settings button to turn on tabbed browsing.

Diagnosing and resolving problems with Tabbed Browsing in IE7
http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archi.../24/203178.aspx

BTW there are many tricks you can do when you use both IE7 and Firefox. It is important to know what version of Firefox you have installed.


In IE go to Tools > Internet Option Under the "Advanced" tab, press the "RESET" button at the lower right.
That helps with many IE7 problems.



How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378



Test Internet Explorer 7 Without Installing It
(have both IE7 and IE6 available)
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/04/t...-7-without.html

User Agent String Utility version 2
Brief Description
A utility that opens an Internet Explorer 7.0 window that is configured to report its identity to websites as being Internet Explorer 6.0.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

Also:

On Firefox, right-click anywhere on the toolbar (grey) area. Click 'Customise' and a new window will pop-up. Look for the 'IE Tab' icon, click, hold and drag it next to one of the existing toolbar buttons on the main browser window. Now open any website that didn't work previously, click on the IE Tab button and it should display correctly.

You can modify the IE Tab options by clicking 'Tools' > 'IE Tab Options'.


there is a addon for firefox which allows you to view those pages in a IE tab inside FF.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/