Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 install is broken

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 install is broken
Author: Mark Kaelin


Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 has been released and is now being rolled out as part of the normal automatic Windows security update process. Unfortunately for many, the installation of IE8 has actually broken the browser and made it useless. My younger brother called me this morning with this problem, and I asked him to come to the office so I can get a firsthand look.
He has a Gateway notebook that is about two years running Windows XP.

Problem

This mysterious problem of IE8 not working has been echoed by several TechRepublic members to me in private messages and in the Community Forums. I have not pinned down the exact cause, but in my brother’s situation, the problem was frustrating on several levels.
First, the symptoms of this problem don’t allow for much troubleshooting analysis. Internet Explorer 8 starts as if everything is fine until it tries to load a Web page. At that point it freezes into a continuous connecting mode and stops responding to commands. There is no error code or other indication of how to correct or proceed.

The second frustrating problem involves the Control Panel Add Remove Programs applet. The installation of IE8 on my brother’s PC apparently did not progress enough to actually be listed in the tool to be removed or uninstalled.

Solution

There were two choices at this point: forget Internet Explorer and use Mozilla Firefox exclusively or uninstall IE8 and return to Internet Explorer 7.

For the sake of knowledge and this blog, we opted for choice number two, but my guess is that most will opt for Firefox, and I can’t say that I blame them at this point.

However, for our purposes, here is how we had to proceed.

The first thing I had to do was get the installation file for the Windows XP version of Internet Explorer 8. Once that was downloaded, I reinstalled it to the Gateway notebook. The process involved about 30 minutes and two restarts to complete.

My hope was that this process would install a working Internet Explorer 8. It did not. IE8 behaved the same as before: it would not load a Web page and stopped responding to commands. However, the most important thing was accomplished because Internet Explorer 8 was now on the list of Add Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

I used that entry to uninstall IE8 and return Internet Explorer to the previous version. A few minutes and a reboot later, IE7 was back and running as expected.

Your experience

This has been my experience, or at least that of my brother’s, but I am wondering what your experience has been. I don’t know if this is confined to Windows XP or if there is some other factor involved. I only know that this is certainly not the user experience Microsoft was looking for.
On my own personal computers, I have upgraded my notebook running Vista to Internet Explorer 8 without any problems at all. But I have not taken the chance on another PC yet. In addition to my brother’s story, I have had several reports of IE8 not working at all after installation, which gives me pause.
What about you? Did you get a bad Internet Explorer 8 install? How did you fix the problem? Did you go back to IE7? Did you just drop Internet Explorer and make Firefox your default browser? Let us know what is going on out in the real world.

The 10 Cisco IOS Router file management commands you must know
Date: December 12th, 2008
Author: David Davis

David Davis goes over the Cisco IOS commands you must know to manipulate files on your Cisco router flash, nvram, or other filesystems, allowing you to back up your configuration, upgrade your router, or just maintain the IOS file system.
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Just like a Windows or Linux operating system, the Cisco IOS has its own list of commands to manipulate files, very similar to DOS/Windows commands. These files could be your IOS router operating system, configuration file, or other type of IOS file. Knowing these file commands is a critical requirement for any Cisco admin.
Let’s look at 10 Cisco IOS file management commands you must know.

#1 dir

This shows a directory list of files on a filesystem. To see the options, type dir ?Router#dir ?
/all List all files
/recursive List files recursively
all-filesystems List files on all filesystems
archive: Directory or file name
cns: Directory or file name
flash: Directory or file name
null: Directory or file name
nvram: Directory or file name
system: Directory or file name
tar: Directory or file name
tmpsys: Directory or file name
xmodem: Directory or file name
ymodem: Directory or file name


Router#

You can think of each of these filesystems almost like disk drives in DOS, where you have to put a colon after the name. So, the nvram is called nvram:. The default is to show a directory of the router’s flash as your default current directory is flash:

Router#

dirDirectory of flash:/
2 -rwx 18929780 Aug 29 2006 15:49:57 +00:00 c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T5.bin
3 -rwx 2143 Aug 29 2006 16:42:14 +00:00 running-config
23482368 bytes total (4544512 bytes free)

Router#

Every router will have at least flash memory and nvram (non-volatile random access memory).

#2 cd

Change directory: Use cd to change your current directory to a different device or subdirectory on that device. In the following, when I change my directory to the nvram: filesystem and do a dir, I get a list of nvram. I could also cd to a subdirectory after I have created a directory with mkdir.

Router#cd nvram:

Router#dir

Directory of nvram:/
126 -rw- 2143 startup-config
127 ---- 5 private-config
128 -rw- 2143 underlying-config
1 ---- 49 persistent-data
2 -rw- 0 ifIndex-table
131072 bytes total (116584 bytes free)

Router#

#3 copy

This is used to copy the IOS or a config file from and to somewhere. You would use this to copy the router’s configuration off the router to a TFTP server or just make a local backup of it on the router. You would also use the copy command to upgrade the router with a new IOS from a TFTP server.

Here, I am making a local backup of the router’s running configuration:

Router#copy running-config davids-backup-before-upgrade

Destination filename [davids-backup-before-upgrade]?

2181 bytes copied in 3.052 secs (715 bytes/sec)

Router#

#4 delete and rm

Very simply, you will use delete to delete files and rm to remove folders/directories. Here, I use delete to delete the backup of my config that I just created:

Router#delete davids-backup-before-upgrade

Delete filename [davids-backup-before-upgrade]?

Delete flash:/davids-backup-before-upgrade? [confirm]

Router#

#5 show flash

This is used to show the files in your flash. The command show flash is similar to dir flash: but it provides a little more information on the size and type of flash memory in your router.

Router#show flash

24576K bytes of processor board System flash (Intel Strataflash)

Directory of flash:/
2 -rwx 18929780 Aug 29 2006 15:49:57 +00:00 c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T5.bin
3 -rwx 2181 Oct 4 2006 04:03:00 +00:00 mybackup-today
23482368 bytes total (4544512 bytes free)

Router#

#6 erase and format

It can be a bit confusing why you would erase one type of filesystem, but format another. What you really need to know is that you format flash devices and erase nvram. There are other types of filesystems, and you may erase or format them, depending on their type. The erase command is most used when you want to wipe out the router’s configuration and start with a default configuration. This is done with erase startup-configuration.

Router# erase ?

/all Erase all files(in NVRAM)
/no-squeeze-reserve-space Do not reserve space for squeeze operation
flash: Filesystem to be erased
nvram: Filesystem to be erased
startup-config Erase contents of configuration memory

Router# format ?

flash: Filesystem to be formatted

Router#

#7 more

This shows a text / configuration file. Let’s say that you want to view a backup configuration file that you created. Just use the more command to view it:

Router# more my-backup-config

!

version 12.4
parser config cache interface
parser config interface
{config truncated}

#8 verify

This is used to verify the checksum or compute a MD5 signature for a file.

Router#verify flash:c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T5.bin

Verifying file integrity of flash:c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T5.bin.......{truncated}............ Done!

Embedded Hash MD5 : CA8AEC573B197AEC6BD5892DE23C4754
Computed Hash MD5 : CA8AEC573B197AEC6BD5892DE23C4754
CCO Hash MD5 : 9D39672246853C0F31533B6BCB21DFE5

Embedded hash verification successful.

File system hash verification failed for file flash:c870-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T5.bin(No such file or directory).

Router#

#9 mkdir

Just like in DOS, you use mkdir to create a directory/folder. I would do this to perhaps create an archive folder for backup configurations or old IOS files.

Router# mkdir backup-configs
Create directory filename [backup-configs]?
Created dir flash:backup-configs

Router#

#10 fsck

FAT filesystem check is typically used to check your flash filesystem integrity. You may do this if you have experienced some corruption of your IOS files in flash.

Router# fsck

Fsck operation may take a while. Continue? [confirm]
.....{truncated}.......
Fsck of flash: complete

Router#

While there are so many reasons to use file system commands like these, if I had to select three of the most practical uses for some of the commands listed above, here is my list:

1. Navigating the Cisco IOS filesystems — knowing what configuration files and what IOS files are on the router, perhaps before performing an upgrade.

2. Back up your configuration to the local router or off to a TFTP server, again, perhaps before a backup

3. Performing an upgrade of the Cisco IOS by copying the IOS from a TFTP server to the router.
It’s very important to understand IOS file management commands, what those commands are, and how you can use them in the real world. You don’t want to be stumbling to restore your IOS when the primary IOS is corrupt!