I have a problem loading just a few websites and the one thing in common I've noticed is that when I look at the page source, they all have references to javascript and xml. Thousands of other websites work fine. I've done the java test on java dot com and it passes. This happens on all browsers and all are up to date. Any ideas how to debug this? Here are a couple examples: 1) bloomberg dot com. Enter a symbol (eg. MSFT) click on Quote (works fine) then click on Chart - on my work pc it comes up fine (ie. the website is fine) but on my home pc the chart doesn't show (but everything else around it is there) 2) cnn dot com slash video - the screen shows "loading..." but hangs there forever on my home pc. Again works perfectly on my work pc. There are a few more sites I've encountered with similar issues, but just about every other site works perfectly. Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Java is not Javascript. The two have similar names, and the syntax looks a bit alike at first, but the similarities end there. (The name was a marketing ploy on Netscape's part, i think.) That Java works is no indicator that Javascript should. What may help, though, is testing flash. Most web sites that play video these days, seem to use a flash applet to do it. I don't think i've seen a java applet in a while now. And for reference, the applets on bloomberg and cnn are both flash. Just about every major site in existence these days has some javascript in it. XML is a bit less common, and different browsers sometimes handle it differently, so it's possible that could be an issue...but i'd concentrate first on seeing whether Flash is installed correctly. Some people who build web apps don't care about what browsers it's compatible with, as long as it looks and works OK on their computer and their pet browser. Developers who use IE are infamous for this, but Firefox has its myopic fanbois too, as do most other browsers with more than 0 users. For referenc, CNN's video player doesn't work for me in Firefox, but works fine in IE. Bloomberg's chart works fine for me in Firefox, though.

Thanks for your reply Chao! A colleague of mine also suggested Flash. I uninstalled what I had and installed the latest version, but I get the same result. Adobe has a Flash tester on their website and it passed. Anything else I should check?!? One thing I found interesting is that when Flash was uninstalled, neither website I used as examples complained that Flash was not there.

I'm not terribly surprised that the sites didn't check for flash. It sometimes likes to pretend it's not installed even when it is, and most people these days have it installed anyway, so the least annoying course of action for almost all involved is to just assume it's there. Aside from Flash, i couldn't really tell you what the issue is. I doubt it's Javascript, or you'd be having massive numbers of sites just plain unusable. (The web all but requires script these days.) You might try checking your privacy/security settings. See if you're blocking cookies or disabling scripts for the problem sites, especially. CNN really, really wants me to have cookies enabled, and i get a blank player screen when i block them (though parts of the page still load). I guess i should ask what browsers you're using. Versions too would be good.

I've tried IE 7.0, Flock 1.2.5, and Safari 3.1.2. The flash version is 10 - I wonder if I should try downgrading to 9?? Just running out of ideas. Could the registry be messed up (but then wouldn't that mean Flash would work for nothing at all?)

Whether messed up registry keys would break flash for everything, depends partly on how the HTML specifies the type of the object. It's possible for multiple "clsid:" types to refer to the same type of object, and it's also possible that some of them were set up by the installer while some other ones weren't. I doubt it would hurt anything to try installing an earlier version of Flash. You may want to see if you can uninstall the version you already have first, though, or the installer might see a newer version and say "hey, you already have flash! enjoy!" and not bother to install.

SOLVED IT. My user id is an administrator. I tried a non-administrator and it worked perfectly. I created a new administrator, made mine non-administrator and I'm good to go. I'm not sure this is the way Microsoft designed it to work?!?