What's up with my PC ????

[Moonbeam]

When I log onto my account on http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ on my laptop, eveything is fine.
However, when I log on on my PC, I can't see my avatar.
When I'm on my PC, there's no avatar image - just a little red cross and some writing saying "Avatar Image".
I can see other people's avatars, although some do show the red cross like mine, but that might be down to them not having an avatar. Other websites are fine - I can see my own avatar on here when I'm on my PC.
Also, I'm having difficulties on another webpage. When you hover your cursor over a link, the cursor changes to a hand, then when you click on it, it'll open up the webpage. On the website in question, there's usually a piccie of the word "go" - you click on it and it opens up a new webpage. The piccie of the word "go" has now disappeared, although the cursor still changes to a hand when you hover it over where the piccie should be. It's as if the link is still there, but there's no piccie showing. The webpage is fine on my laptop - the word "go" appears ok, I'm only having problems on my PC.

Any ideas anyone plzz ????

[Moonbeam]

Just for the record, I'm using Windows Vista on my laptop with IE9 and windows XP on my PC with IE8 (I'm fairly sure IE9 isn't available for Windows XP).
I can't understand why things have suddenly changed, 'cos I haven't done anything drastic recently. The only thing I've done recently is install Nokia Suite onto my PC for my mobile phone.

[Jorpho]

There are many possible different reasons why there could be a problem here.

Just for the record, I'm using Windows Vista on my laptop with IE9 and windows XP on my PC with IE8 (I'm fairly sure IE9 isn't available for Windows XP).

That's a rather pivotal piece of information, yes.

Try a different browser. To start ruling out connectivity issues, I would suggest getting a portable version of Firefox such as http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/ and running it from a USB drive on each computer, and see if everything comes up the same way. Be sure to run in Private Browsing to eliminate any possibility of the cache or cookies interfering.

[Moonbeam]

Just for the record, I've sorted it
I installed firefox on my PC and had no problems whatsoever, so I decided to re-install IE8 ...... problem sorted now
Could anyone be more specific than saying that my IE8 was corrupt ??

[ElWanderer]

It was probably something like the IE cache (temporary internet files) got corrupted, so IE thought it had the image files stored locally, but couldn't find them. The other main possibility is accidentally blocking images from a certain site or sites, but I don't know if you can do that in IE (you can in Firefox). As Jorpho says, there are lots of reasons why a browser might not be able to display an image and instead show the alt text.

[EdgarJPublius]

so I decided to re-install IE8

Dear lord, why!?

[Moonbeam]

so I decided to re-install IE8

Dear lord, why!?

.... and why not ??

My train of thought is, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Okay it was broke, so I fixed it .... what I mean is, it worked okay before, so why bother changing it ??

[Jorpho]

Because it might break again? Or break in some other way?

[SlyReaper]

so I decided to re-install IE8

Dear lord, why!?

.... and why not ??

My train of thought is, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Okay it was broke, so I fixed it .... what I mean is, it worked okay before, so why bother changing it ??

Because Firefox is just better.

[EdgarJPublius]

so I decided to re-install IE8

Dear lord, why!?

.... and why not ??

My train of thought is, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Okay it was broke, so I fixed it .... what I mean is, it worked okay before, so why bother changing it ??

Just because it works (for now) doesn't mean it isn't fundamentally broken.

[undecim]

My train of thought is, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Okay it was broke, so I fixed it .... what I mean is, it worked okay before, so why bother changing it ??

Because IE8 is broken. It's always been broken, but this is just the first time you've noticed it. Switch to Firefox (or Chrome) for a couple days, then try going back to IE8, and you'll see what everyone is talking about.

[ycc1988]

While this is not a browser war thread, you really should be using the latest version of IE if you want to use IE at all. Get IE 9.

[ElWanderer]

I would recommend having more than one browser installed anyway, even if you don't use the second very often. If something on the web starts acting up, trying it in the second browser will give you a big clue as to whether the problem relates to the browser or your computer and/or internet connection.

[cphite]

While this is not a browser war thread, you really should be using the latest version of IE if you want to use IE at all. Get IE 9.

He is using the latest version of IE available... for Windows XP.

I would agree that IE8 isn't the best browser, but it's not as awful as some people make it out to be; and there are still plenty of websites lingering out there that just don't work right on Chrome, Firefox, etc...

[Moonbeam]

While this is not a browser war thread, you really should be using the latest version of IE if you want to use IE at all. Get IE 9.

He is using the latest version of IE available... for Windows XP.

You beat me to it

[ycc1988]

Then get a newer OS. (Not kidding, Windows XP officially dies in 2014.)

IE9 is okay, but IE8 and older and older need to die. No one should ever need to use an <!--[if lte IE 7]> or <!--[if IE 8]> tag ever again.

[Moonbeam]

Then get a newer OS. (Not kidding, Windows XP officially dies in 2014.)

I will do ..... eventually

tbh, I don't use my PC much, 'cos I prefer the comfort of my laptop whilst watching TV . When I do use it, it's usually only for web surfing and email use. The hardest it has to work is uploading vids and photos. I'll prob just upgrade the whole PC unit (eventually!!) and get whichever is the latest version of Windows out at the time (prob be Windows 53 by the time I get round to it lol).

[Adacore]

I would agree that IE8 isn't the best browser, but it's not as awful as some people make it out to be; and there are still plenty of websites lingering out there that just don't work right on Chrome, Firefox, etc...

This is far more true than it should be. A large number (possibly a majority) of Korean online shopping / banking websites give you a message saying 'you're using the wrong browser, you need to use IE', if you try to use them with Chrome, Firefox or Safari. I've switched to using IE for everything instead of Chrome because it's just too unreliable on websites here.

[EdgarJPublius]

The reason for that is that IE8 is not standards compliant. If a website only works in IE that website is broken, it does not comply with web standards for displaying correctly and securely.

[Adacore]

The reason for that is that IE8 is not standards compliant. If a website only works in IE that website is broken, it does not comply with web standards for displaying correctly and securely.

I know that, but it doesn't help me much to say 'oh, this website is broken, guess I can't use it', when I need to use the website in question to book cinema tickets, or use my online banking, or order grocery shopping, or access my company's intranet...

[EdgarJPublius]

I would not voluntarily process my credit card or other banking information on a website that was not standards compliant. That seems like asking for trouble to me. Web standards exist for a reason, and compatibility is only part of it, web standards also encompass security standards.

That Said, IE is no longer the dominant browser, that went to Chrome Earlier in the year, and Chrome and Firefox have both been catching up to IE for quite a while, there shouldn't be any reputable commercial websites left that aren't compatible with all three major browsers.

keeping IE around for use with a corporate intranet or other special purposes is one thing, but it should not be your primary browser.