A real treat for the hardcore IE experts!

The problem:
I work at a language department and the five of us have computers with Windows 2000/XP and Internet Explorer 6. We all have different service packs and updates. The two of us can write/search in Arabic (e.g. in google and in our e-learn system, Blackboard) - three can't. Various IT supporters and I have "tried everything ", checked language settings, browser settings, installing updates one by one .. at the end we tried even absurd and rediculous things, "just in case ". There seems to be no system or order in the "it works/it doesn't work ": it works on Windows 2000 (sp4) and Windows XP (sp1 and sp2), it doesn't work on Windows 2000 (sp4) and Windows XP (sp1 and sp2) ..!! Within the past year I have had Win2k, Winxp (sp1 and sp2), IE 6 (sp1 and xpsp2) and never experienced the problem myself ..

Of course we can use a different browser for searching in Arabic (Mozilla works OK for that) - but the text editor in our e-learn system requires IE for editing script size (Arabic script is by default smaller than western scripts) and right-to-left alignment. And we use our e-learn system a lot!

I believe I have asked anyone - and now you guys!

 

Are you using the Multilingual User Interface Pack? Says it only applies to Server 2003, but may be worth trying.

Arabic Characters Are Not Readable After You Switch the Language to Arabic on a Computer That Has MUI Installed

This is what caught my eye.

 

thank you for your response .. no, we don't use MUI. One use English Windows 2000, the rest of us Danish Windows 2000/XP. This shouldn't affect the use of IE .. as the MUI goes for the system language/interface and not necessarily for additional programs. We tried to install the Arabic version of IE - with the same problems as with the usual versions (English & Danish).

What puzzles me (and several, now baldheaded, IT supporters at my university) is why IE (only) works in Arabic for some of us.

 

Have you tried going directly to Microsoft Tech Support? This sort of thing is their meat & potatoes. They have tech notes for fixing things that aren't published on the normal help sites because either they are too rare for that to be worthwhile or else the 'fix' can go wrong if not done just right.

I'm guessing this should even be a free support call since it is all M$ stuff that should work and does not.

FWIW, I have used them a number of times in the past and have nothing but good to say about the experience.

 

I suspect my university won't pay for support - at least they still haven't solved the puzzle. And now I suspect they won't do anything to figure out why IE works for some and not for all - - because I have found a way to workaround the problem!

I think I have tested about 30+ browsers and applications - and the "solution" was to install "Avanced Browser" (Ace Explorer works too). Both browsers are standalone applications to IE (share some files with IE). I have absolutely no idea why those browsers work, but they do!

Only problem is that AB DOES tranfer your bookmarks from IE, but bookmarks saved in "not commonly used languages" can't open. Well, you can type the url's and save and name them in a Western language .. but that's not an option in my case as I work in the Middle East department and I have several hundreds bookmarks in Arabic. SO .. the advise to my unfortunate colleagues is to use AB for writing/searching in Arabic and do everything else in IE.

In case anyone else should ever experience this problem:
http://www.advancedbrowser.com/
http://www.aceexplorer.com/

Oh, an unexpected benefit:
Unlike IE, these browsers can display multiple open web sites in tabs (including: open a bookmark folder in tabs)

 

Universities can be like that but as noted above, I'm about 95%+ sure the support case would be no cost. You could at least check with Microsoft and find out.

 

mkyungo,
I'm not sure I understand the problem but I do know that this browser has the arabic language support and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it works like IE or with IE support? I do know that it works on the windows update site. If I'm confused just ignore me but I really like this browser and it's free so I'd give it a try.

Don't forget to post back with your results.

Happy Holiday's
Rockit

http://www.avantbrowser.com/

 

To Newt:
In Denmark Microsoft support costs $75 for e-mail support (you pay upon sending the request) - phone support costs $142 per starting hour. Well, if that's the kind of money I'll have to pay out of my own pocket to find out why my colleagues' computers don't work (I don't have problems with my IE) .. I can easily live without knowing what causes the problems and why my "solution" works ;-)

To Rockit:
Thank you for your post. The Avant Browser is the same kind as the one earlier mentioned, Advanced Brower & Ace Explorer (same kind of IE application) - in fact, Avant and Advanced have the exact same layout, icons, settings options etc. So, the conclusion is the same:
1) works for Arabic search and Arabic in our e-learn system (which only functions 100 % in IE for PC's according to the developing company)
2) the same problems with previous saved bookmarks written in Arabic (turned into ??? and therefore no longer readable url's for the Avant Browser).

So .. Avant Browser is equally as good/bad and should be on the list of useful alternatives to finding out "WHY IE works for some and not for others.. "
;-) Maria