Windows Vista IE will not start when UAC is enabled

Hi

I am running Vista Home Premium. When I have User Account Centre enabled I am unable to start Internet Explorer in the normal manner. I receive the message "Internet Explorer has stopped workingâ€. I can run IE if I Run as Administrator, but even then I receive the message "An unidentified program wants access to your computer" and I have to tell it that I know this program and have run it before and to allow it. Unfortunately it does not learn & I have to go through this each & every time I start IE with UAC enabled.

I find this really puzzling as I am running IE V7 straight out of the Vista box and have not installed any 3rd party plug ins.

I have tried reinstalling Vista & IE. I have also tried disabling all the plug ins (that seem to be a normal part of the install), but to no avail.

This is such an irritating problem, and one that would mean I could not use the 1 push button on my keyboard to start IE, but instead must jump through hoops to start IE, so I have disabled UAC. I know this is not ideal by any means, so would really like to get to the bottom of this.

I hope someone might be able to help.

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

Try going to Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Programs tab -> Set Programs button -> click on "Set program access and computer defaults ". Check the Custom settings and that IE is enabled.

On the Programs tab, check that IE is set as the default browser, if you have another browser, try setting that as default (in that browser's options settings), go back to Internet Options and reset IE as default.

Also look at using the Restore Internet Explorer Settings button under the Advanced tab.

Matt

 

Thanks for helping me with this Matt

Interesting, I got a temporary response, but it was fleeting. Though IE is my one & only browser I double checked to ensure that it was in fact set as the default.

I then followed your suggestion to use Restore Internet Explorer Settings. On my first boot up of IE I was delighted to see it work, but on closing IE & trying to re-open it again I was back to square one.

I then repeated the above exercise as I was interested to see if once again IE would open up for me, but this time around it did not.

Until I get this sorted, I am wondering how important it is for me to use UAC? I am running the most recent version of Norton Internet Security, am the only person who uses my computer, and tend to only frequent the fairly mainstream web sites. So I am tossing up whether it is best for me to continue using IE but with UAC switched off, or whether I am better to leave UAC on but use a third party browser, at least until I get to the bottom of this. What do you reckon?

Again, thanks for your help, and thanks for the welcome.

 

Reboot the computer, not just IE (restart the computer, not just restart the Intenet Explorer program).

You have had some success, why?

Are you working with UAC enabled?

Matt

 

Me, I tried to run with UAC disabled, then, one of the first program I tried to install wouldn't install, why, because UAC was disabled.

Me, I will leave UAC on, and will see if there are any modifications in the upcoming upgrades (Vista SP1? )

[Cripes, I hope there's some upgrades...at least to sort out the confusion between UAC vs non-UAC.]

UAC, I can see that it is to stop unknowing or uncaring users wrecking their system. If we might "know" or "care ", we are stuck with the rest of them.

Matt

 

Well it is really odd because the first time I did this (yes rebooted the pc too) it worked, but second time it did not. Yes I have UAC enabled. So I tried doing all that was suggested above & rebooting the computer 6 times, doing exactly the same thing each time. Out of those 6 times, twice it worked but only for one IE session & 4 times it did not work at all, and yet I did the sequence exactly the same each time. There doesn't seem to be any obvious consistency with what is happening.

Oh well, like you say maybe some things will be sorted with SP1, when it finally gets released.

UAC is probably great to protect people from themselves, especially the ones with just enough knowledge to start being experimental, but not enough to know when to sit on their hands. But it is a bit limiting as it is.

 

There may be a clash of the settings you are trying to make and others elsewhere in the system.

You might want to try booting into Safe Mode and changing the settings there.

Matt