Facebook, IE8, Windows 7 and Addons

[Frosty]

I updated to Windows 7 about a week ago. For the first few days, Facebook

site was working fine. Now I cannot login ... it throws an error telling me

that I don't have cookies enabled in my browser (even though I do).



What I have tried:

-- running "IE8 with addons disabled" (this works)

-- configuring IE8 so that all known addons are disabled (this doesn't work)

-- using https://www.facebook.com instead of http://www.facebook.com (this

works)

-- uninstalling and reinstalling Java, Flash, Shockware, etc (none of this

made any difference)

-- full virus/malware scans with both AVG (licensed version) and

Malwarebytes (didn't find anything)

-- clearing caches, temp files, etc (made no difference)



I don't understand why disabling all the addons in IE8 is not the same as

running IE8 with the switch that tells it not to load any addons ... however

there obviously is a difference in this case.



The only conclusion I can reach at this point is that there is some other

piece of software intefering with IE8, but only when its using HTTP and not

HTTPS. Any suggestions as to where to look next?



I saw someone in another thread had an issue with a "DivX Web Player" and

when I get home I will have a look for applications similar to that and will

try uninstalling them if I find any.

 

[Frosty]

Oh, I should also mention I have tried resetting IE8 to defaults multiple

times with multiple reboots, but this makes no difference to the behaviour on

Facebook.



Is there an application I could run (e.g. SysInternals Process Explorer)

that would tell me what's running along with IE8 which is different when I

run it in no-addons mode?

 

[rob^_^]

Hi Frosty,



There is a known fault with the facebook sites when you don't have Active

Scripting enabled.



Tools>Internet Options - Security tab, click "Reset all zones to default"



Check that you do not have Facebook in your Restricted Sites Zone. If using

a work computer your System Admin may have placed it there and it will not

be visible to you. Contact your network administrators.



Check your Addons that enable/disable javascripts. IE7Pro? and enable

javascript.



I am reluctant to recommend that you place facebook in your Trusted Sites

security zone as there are many sites now that use the facebook API's

(americangreetings for one) and navigating between sites from different

security zones may give you unexpected results.



Your Cookies slider should be set to the default of "Medium".



If you have InPrivate Filtering turned on (aka. ad blocker) choose the

option to select content to block/allow and make sure that you are not

blocking any content from Facebook. (.js files).



Regards.



"Frosty" wrote in message

news:43BF5B5A-A8AE-48FB-AB15-3B27F629C434@microsoft.com...

> I updated to Windows 7 about a week ago. For the first few days, Facebook

> site was working fine. Now I cannot login ... it throws an error telling

> me

> that I don't have cookies enabled in my browser (even though I do).

>

> What I have tried:

> -- running "IE8 with addons disabled" (this works)

> -- configuring IE8 so that all known addons are disabled (this doesn't

> work)

> -- using https://www.facebook.com instead of http://www.facebook.com (this

> works)

> -- uninstalling and reinstalling Java, Flash, Shockware, etc (none of this

> made any difference)

> -- full virus/malware scans with both AVG (licensed version) and

> Malwarebytes (didn't find anything)

> -- clearing caches, temp files, etc (made no difference)

>

> I don't understand why disabling all the addons in IE8 is not the same as

> running IE8 with the switch that tells it not to load any addons ...

> however

> there obviously is a difference in this case.

>

> The only conclusion I can reach at this point is that there is some other

> piece of software intefering with IE8, but only when its using HTTP and

> not

> HTTPS. Any suggestions as to where to look next?

>

> I saw someone in another thread had an issue with a "DivX Web Player" and

> when I get home I will have a look for applications similar to that and

> will

> try uninstalling them if I find any.

>

 

[Frosty]

Hi Rob,



THANK YOU!!!



I thought I had checked everything, but I clearly hadn't. Something in your

previous post mentioned Trusted Sites and caused me to check:



In IE8, Tools, Internet Options, Security, Trusted Sites, Sites



In there I found: www.facebook.com ... and the checkbox for "Require server

verification (https)" was CHECKED.



I removed the facebook URL from the list and of course now everything is

working just fine. I don't know whether my kids were fiddling with the

settings, or whether Windows 7 reset this checkbox itself ... but anyway,

PROBLEM SOLVED.



Thanks again,



Steve

 

[rob^_^]

Hi,



Thanks for the feedback..... it was not the response I was expecting. Rather

I thought you may have tried to fix things by fiddling with IE's security

zone settings and had turned off Active Scripting in the Internet zone, or

one of your Addons was disabling scripting... now we know another reason why

some users may not be able to logon to facebook + we know the symptoms -

facebook complains that cookies need to be enabled when IE says they are.



Thanks again, and YW.



Regards.



"Frosty" wrote in message

news:F3D32498-AE1B-4CA6-8761-82576492CB95@microsoft.com...

> Hi Rob,

>

> THANK YOU!!!

>

> I thought I had checked everything, but I clearly hadn't. Something in

> your

> previous post mentioned Trusted Sites and caused me to check:

>

> In IE8, Tools, Internet Options, Security, Trusted Sites, Sites

>

> In there I found: www.facebook.com ... and the checkbox for "Require

> server

> verification (https)" was CHECKED.

>

> I removed the facebook URL from the list and of course now everything is

> working just fine. I don't know whether my kids were fiddling with the

> settings, or whether Windows 7 reset this checkbox itself ... but anyway,

> PROBLEM SOLVED.

>

> Thanks again,

>

> Steve

>

 

[Frosty]

Perhaps what it also shows that the starting IE8 using the command line

option which disables addons, which is demonstrably different to using IE's

interface to disable all the addons manually, is different because using the

command line option somehow disables IE's security settings not just its

addons? That would require a bit more testing to prove though.

 

[rob^_^]

Hi,



That is probably one of your Addons trying to read the cookie from a site

that is in your Trusted Zone with https checked.



You could test it for us by re-Adding facebook to your Trusted Sites zone,

but switching off the https checkbox (temporarily).



or



Starting IE in InPrivate mode and with the setting "Disable toolbars and

extensions when InPrivate Browsing starts" checked (default is checked).



Typically it would be one of your 'Social' sharing addons like LinkedIn.



"Frosty" wrote in message

news:F583C55C-1B65-4A4C-837F-D93DE9D43271@microsoft.com...

> Perhaps what it also shows that the starting IE8 using the command line

> option which disables addons, which is demonstrably different to using

> IE's

> interface to disable all the addons manually, is different because using

> the

> command line option somehow disables IE's security settings not just its

> addons? That would require a bit more testing to prove though.

>

 

[Frosty]

I've now tried adding www.facebook.com back in to the Trusted Sites, without

the https required checkbox, and it demonstrates the fault every time ... IE

"forgets" that it knows how to login to facebook and fails every time.



As soon as I take the site out of Trusted Sites, it works.



I've tried deleting every addon I can find within IE, meaning all the Adobe

addons (Flash, Shockware, PDF, etc), Silverlight, all the Windows Live stuff,

accelerators, etc. Nothing makes any difference. I have reset IE to

defaults again, multiple times, no difference.



Anyway, I'm happy to just leave it out of Trusted Sites and move on. But

hopefully this discussion will help someone else if it happens to them.



Thanks for your input!

 

[Frosty]

Oh, one other thing I did notice.



When IE is working correctly and Facebook is loading, it loads in the same

TAB that has the current focus.



When IE is not working correctl and Facebook won't load (e.g. when

www.facebook.com is in the Trusted Sites list), when I click on the Facebook

shortcut in my Favorites it loads (or tries to load) in a new TAB.



It does this consistently. I don't know why, nor do I know whether it has

any significance.

 

[rob^_^]

Hi,



Thanks, yes the loading in a new tab depends upon the security zone of your

currently loaded page (assuming that you are using also the default security

zone settings for IE).



I was erring on recommending that users should add FB to their Trusted Sites

zone, since there are so many other sites now using their API's to suck

information from them.



I think your experience means a definitive NO for everyone. Like any free

service it should not be afforded any additional trust, just because it is

popular. On the contrary, you don't know what is leaking out of there or who

you are dealing with.



Thanks for the feedback, yes... lets move on.



Regards.



"Frosty" wrote in message

news:41A80A56-60C9-4DF3-A2BB-49575ABCBCBE@microsoft.com...

> Oh, one other thing I did notice.

>

> When IE is working correctly and Facebook is loading, it loads in the same

> TAB that has the current focus.

>

> When IE is not working correctl and Facebook won't load (e.g. when

> www.facebook.com is in the Trusted Sites list), when I click on the

> Facebook

> shortcut in my Favorites it loads (or tries to load) in a new TAB.

>

> It does this consistently. I don't know why, nor do I know whether it has

> any significance.

>