Another Reason to Hate Internet Explorer

[queerbychoice]

Dear World in General, I happen to use a very common browser called Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 to access the Internet. There are various problems with this browser, but the most annoying of them is that EVERY SINGLE TIME I TRY TO ACCESS ANY PAGE ON WHICH YOU USED THE "&hearts" HTML CODE, MY BROWSER INSTANTLY CRASHES.

[There's a semicolon that's supposed to go at the end of the "&hearts" code, but I removed it from this post because when I tried to type out the complete code I un-brilliantly caused my own browser to crash when reading this entry.]

My browser has crashed about 14 times in the past three days due to this problem. The code which causes it to crash seems to be undergoing a huge surge in popularity. And every single time my browser crashes, I lose a bunch of writing. Except, of course, for the times when I don't have any writing left to lose anymore because only 1.5 seconds have passed since the previous time my browser crashed.

Now, I do realize that the code which is causing my browser to crash is perfectly valid HTML and should not be causing my browser to crash. However, it is causing my browser to crash. Of course, theoretically I could get a whole different brand of browser, but then of course Microsoft has managed to monopolize various other things which would then not work anymore if I used another browser. Besides, I happen to be slavishly devoted to David Bowie, and although David Bowie himself always uses a Mac and never ever puts himself at the mercy of Microsoft products, he happens to own an Internet Service Provider called BowieNet which I am a member of, and the particular browser into which BowieNet has integrated its little logo and specialized menu system just happens to be Microsoft Internet Explorer. I therefore wish to use it.

I therefore request that all of you out there either promise to never use the "&hearts" code ever again, or else tell me where the hell I can get my browser fixed so this doesn't cause it to crash anymore. I've looked for a patch but I can't seem to find one that addresses this particular deeply annoying problem.

Comments

[voxsjournal.livejournal.com]

I just checked it with IE 5.5 and it doesn't cause the browser to crash, it just displays a little box where, I'm assuming, a heart should be. I tried 6.0 but didn't like it, so I stayed with 5.5. I don't really need anything else yet.

[lm.livejournal.com]

MSIE6 has some other weird bugs. I get a lot of runtime errors with it that I never got with my trusty IE5.5. If you can, you might want to just switch back to 5.5. The only difference I've really found between the two browser versions is that some stylesheet stuff, such as modifications in the colors of the scrollbar, doesn't show up in 5.5. I've been willing to put up with my 6.0 quirks for that, because by now I already have those codes on some of my sites and like to see my own stuff the proper way, but for something like regular browser crashes it would probably be better to downgrade.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I can't understand why they mae their programs get stupider with each successive new version. Arrgh!

[voxsjournal.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I'm on 5.5 and the color changes made to the scroll bars show up. Are you using SP2?

Odd.

[lm.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not. I've had other 5.5 users tell me that I should be able to see the scroller changes, but...I couldn't. I think perhaps I had an early release of it or something, and the stylesheet stuff was added to the version later in a patch or something. I'm not really sure, because it was the original IE that my computer came with, and 6.0 was my first upgrade.

[voxsjournal.livejournal.com]

M$, being an evil company, seems to have removed the update from its site, forcing people to use 6.0.

[voxsjournal.livejournal.com]

ACK! Stupid me. I was wrong. You can find SP2 for 5.5 at this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/archive/default.asp), if you're interested.

[tropiquena.livejournal.com]

I have v6.0 (just checked, haha), and mine doesn't do that. How odd.

However, my computer DOES spasm every time I try to visit ANY UBB-encoded thingummy; blah. It tells me I don't have enough memory - but I KNOW I have at least 40 GB free. Arrrrrgh, how dumb. ;D

[bulletme.livejournal.com]

that's quite odd. i'm sorry, i didn't realize the hearts thing could actually make your browser crash... that's very strange.

kasper

[joxn.livejournal.com]

1. Don't look at my profile, since I'm interested in .
2. How often do you use your super-secret Bowiemenu? What's on it? Because I bet that a little work would make Mozilla do that too, and then you could switch to a browser which kicks IE's ass.

[voxsjournal.livejournal.com]

Okay, I don't know if you have this already or not, but if you go to this page (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp) you will see a link to download SP1 for IE 6.0. I don't know if that will fix the problem, but it's worth a shot. You should get it anyway, since the M$ patches usually correct at least some of the problems.

Good luck.