somebody please help me! here's the scenario: i went to download IE 5 to replace my 4. the download took a long time and kept being interrupted. ok, so i go and try to install it (which automatically comes up everytime i turn on my computer) and it seems to have problems installing--telling me it was unsuccessful and to shut down and start over. no problem, only i've done it a zillion times and each time it's screwed up. so i decided to reinstall IE 4 to start over. that's unsuccessful too. now i get the following error messages: error loading IEDKCS32.DLL a device attached to the system is not functioning the LOADWC.EXE file is linked to missing export SHLWAPI.DLL:wnsprintfA so now (btw my server is through MSN), when i log in and go to my default start page (MSN.COM) i get a message asking me whether i want to save the default somewhere or open it up. no matter what i do, it tries to shut me down. i can't even use my IE browser at all. i have Netscape installed and it runs fine. i've tried junking IE and really starting over, but the uninstall has been unabled (i think this is the norm). i've gone and tried to redownload the software and this didn't work either. oh, an now windows explorer doesn't work either. i tried to reinstall msn but it didn't work (you have to log on and it's supposed to take you to setup.msn.com but that didn't work and i got the same error messages). HELP ME!! did i break it????

not sure...my first guess if I did that at home would be to re-install windows...not sure what to tell you to do, Wolfsie...

welcome to IE hell, wolfie. i've done something similar a few times, and ended up reinstalling winblows. you might try going to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel then double clicking on the "Add/Remove Programs" icon. if you see IE 5.0 there, or it's install program, try Removing it byclicking on its name then hitting the Add/Remove button. if that does the trick of bringing you back to square one, try installing IE 5.0 again. if it does not do the trick, or if there are no entries under Add/Remove, then get your WIndows CD out and run the Setup.exe program on the CD. this will re-install windows for you, and shouldnt delete anything of critical importance on the system. keep us posted!

Ray said it, I'm guessing there's no unintall for IE5 though and, if there were, I wouldn't count on this. Worth a try, though, before re-installing. When this happens to me, I rebuild everything from scratch. Do a backup! Before you mess around, though.

yeah. thanks guys *hugs* there is no uninstall for ie 4 and i doubt there's one for ie 5. ie 5 setup is all over the computer but can't get anywhere with it. i tried to download ie 5 again, but apparantly, the setup didn't work because i have a resume icon on my desktop. if i reinstall windows, will it mess up other programs already in place (i.e., quicken, etc.)? you guys are so patient, thanks a million!!!

um, i redownloaded ie 5 and it downloaded and installed smoothly with no breaks in the transmission. everything works and i'm no longer getting error messages. thanks!!!!

yippeee!

i know!!

None of this would have happened if you had downloaded and installed the stand-alone Netscape Navigator 4.0.8. Then you hand pick every last vestage of IE out of your files (after running the Uninstall function). Presto! Like magic you can see and post things never seeable or postable before. (ducking to avoid the shoes and rotten veggies sure to be hurled in my direction by disagreeing people I know and love...)

You can run an uninstall function from your control panel to delete most of IE - that is what I did and it works just fine.

Or get a telnet account and be a true geek.

I have one *smile* and have just downloaded crt from your buddy Don Stroud...but Pine sucks and Lynx is the pits...or do they improve under the influence of crt, as well?! Actually, I have a telnet account with my ISP and one with you at Spring! I cannot post very easily on Spring with the HOL telnet account...!

I felt truly geek-worthy yesterday when I managed to link two different conferences to Geo. It made my entire week...month, even...

Wonder why you can't post easily with HOL? Are you using pico as your editor in your telnet sessions?

So far I have not got into pico or vi, and am not sure I know where and when in the telnetting process that I do access them. I have downloaded all sorts of tutorials for vi so I could be helpful to a programmer around these parts but now on hiatus but have progressed to the point that I need someone much wiser than I am or a site more descriptive than I presently have found to nudge me in the right direction. Most of the posting problem was due to the way lynx got me into Spring. I could not find the ongin and password place at first, and with out them there is no posting. I should try again now that I am a little more experienced...

I think your default editor is vi.

I am sure it is. And I have my handy command sheets at my side, but I need practice... And this is the way to get it. I have solved the double telnet problem...day by day I learn something and correct errors here and there, but I am nowhere as proficient as I need to be nor as confident as I should be to tackle serious tasks on Unix. First we crawl, then we stand up...Then we walk and lastly we RUN! I am about to stand up!

BTW, HOL was begun by Hams after Hurrican Iniki descimated the Island of Kauai. It has become the most successful and largest ISP in the islands from its humble telnet beginnings. When I first joined all I could get into was CERN in Europe (the parent of the Internet), and the card catalog at the U of Hawaii Manoa campus library! I hope they all got rich and took stock options in the business!

Wow, Marcia you're really an early adopter. You got in when telnet was still cool. What was that song, "I was country, when country wasn't cool."?

Telnet was all there was!!! I cut my email teeth on Pine. It was survival. My son had gone away to school and I was bereft of my best hiking and talking buddy. He hauled me kicking and screaming into the cyber-world, and the rest is history. T can remember loading programs into a commodore 64 from a tape machine! They came on little cassettes and you loaded them, played or used them then removed them. Very odd.

The really neat thing is HOL has continued to make that available to those who prefer to do things the old-fashioned way. They have Lynx as a browser, Pine for Email, Mirc for chat, ftp availability (very primitive), USENET for newsgroups, Archie, Ping, Whois, Finger, NSLookup (primitive search engine), and TraceRoute (?) You have not lived until you have tried to navigate the web that way...

Absolutely, those of us who got in early cut our teeth on these programs and then along came the tidal wave known as the web. But telnet takes you right to the soul of the machine, bypassing the glitz and glamor of the colorful images, so your only dealing with the words and thoughts. telnet is a vanishing species.

I am pretty sure those who just use windows will never realize the marvel and intricacy that the Internet is and the computer is, as well. It is one of those things like the bumble bee, which should not be able to fly, but since the bee does not know this, he flies anyway. It is amazing how reliable the computer is (despite AOL's nefariousness and the impatience of the majority of users.) It is like being a pioneer again when you telnet...part of the universal continuum. I guess it is like that for Ham who use CW with the old-style paddles.

We're up to IE 7 now.