Unable to click into search boxes or copy text on websites?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Hawkins
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve Hawkins

Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all' to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages. Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all' or a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage, the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do quite a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc, but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.

Regards,

Steve_H
 
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This asks me for
a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...' (sorry,
I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the fix
eventually said it had completed successfully without this. (Wary of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all. Can copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?

Regards,

Steve


Don Varnau said:
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]


Steve Hawkins said:
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages. Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all' or a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage, the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc, but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.

Regards,

Steve_H
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
A little more experimentation shows that:

Freshly opened IE will allow me to highlight text in google groups searches,
but if I go to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, and search for an old
thread of my own - for example the extensive one referring to backing up -
the ability to highlight is 'turned off' for that thread, and even if I
backtrack with the back button, previous texts that were highlightable by
clicking now will not highlight. Effectively the groups thread kills this
function on IE until it is restarted.

(The WIkipedia 'non clickability' does not affect subsequent windows in this
manner so it seems to be a slightly different problem.)

?
S

Steve Hawkins said:
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This asks me
for a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...'
(sorry, I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the
fix eventually said it had completed successfully without this. (Wary of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all. Can copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?

Regards,

Steve


Don Varnau said:
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in
text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]


"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in
message
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on
their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages.
Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in
their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all' or
a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage, the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc, but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.

Regards,

Steve_H
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi,
To (possibly) rule out the possibility that another program, toolbar,
add-on, BHO, etc is causing this...

If running XP SP2, try IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable third-party
add-ons to see if one of them is the culprit. If not using SP2, try
BHODemon http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3550.html
and/or ToolbarCop: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

If you startup in Safe Mode with Networking, does the problem still occur?
315222 - A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=315222

Don
[MS MVP- IE]

Steve Hawkins said:
A little more experimentation shows that:

Freshly opened IE will allow me to highlight text in google groups searches,
but if I go to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, and search for an old
thread of my own - for example the extensive one referring to backing up -
the ability to highlight is 'turned off' for that thread, and even if I
backtrack with the back button, previous texts that were highlightable by
clicking now will not highlight. Effectively the groups thread kills this
function on IE until it is restarted.

(The WIkipedia 'non clickability' does not affect subsequent windows in this
manner so it seems to be a slightly different problem.)

?
S
Click to expand...
"Steve Hawkins" wrote in message
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This asks me
for a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...'
(sorry, I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the
fix eventually said it had completed successfully without this. (Wary of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all. Can copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?
Don Varnau said:
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in
text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall

"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in
message
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas
these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on
their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages.
Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in
their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web
pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all' or
a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage,
the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of
languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite
a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc, but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks once again Don!

Tried disabling the add ons one at a time and all together. No change.

Then found that adding Wikipedia to my 'Trusted Sites' allowed me to click
in and highlight there after all - so there must be some other option that
needs to be on on that site but for which no pop up permission 'yes/no'
panel is generated.

Google did not seem quite the same as once trying to highlight a thread
'killed' the function it would not work on panels where google had allowed
this previously.

However, I tried adding the microsoft.public search thread of Google groups
address into my 'Trusted Sites', and now I can click and copy the thread I
have been wanting a hard copy of at last!

(This poses another question, for which I will start a new thread.)

Still don't really know why one particular section of Google should have
behaved in this way though. Perhaps, with this extra info you can enlighten
me?

Much obliged,

Steve_H


Don Varnau said:
Hi,
To (possibly) rule out the possibility that another program, toolbar,
add-on, BHO, etc is causing this...

If running XP SP2, try IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable third-party
add-ons to see if one of them is the culprit. If not using SP2, try
BHODemon http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3550.html
and/or ToolbarCop: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

If you startup in Safe Mode with Networking, does the problem still occur?
315222 - A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=315222

Don
[MS MVP- IE]

Steve Hawkins said:
A little more experimentation shows that:

Freshly opened IE will allow me to highlight text in google groups searches,
but if I go to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, and search for an old
thread of my own - for example the extensive one referring to backing
up -
the ability to highlight is 'turned off' for that thread, and even if I
backtrack with the back button, previous texts that were highlightable by
clicking now will not highlight. Effectively the groups thread kills
this
function on IE until it is restarted.

(The WIkipedia 'non clickability' does not affect subsequent windows in this
manner so it seems to be a slightly different problem.)

?
S
Click to expand...
"Steve Hawkins" wrote in message
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This asks
me
for a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...'
(sorry, I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the
fix eventually said it had completed successfully without this. (Wary of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all
the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all. Can copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?
"Don Varnau" <don_04[at]varnau[dot]org> wrote in message
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in
text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall

"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in
message
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas
these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on
their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages.
Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in
their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web
pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all' or
a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage,
the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of
languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite
a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc, but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Steve,
Glad you came up with a workaround. I have no idea why you would have to add
non-secure sites like wikipedia and google groups to Trusted Sites in order
to select and copy text.

It's a longshot, but you might try re-registering the DLLs listed in the
Resolution section of http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679

I would also add these:
regsvr32 mshtmled.dll
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll
(from http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm )

Don
[MS MVP- IE]


Steve Hawkins said:
Thanks once again Don!

Tried disabling the add ons one at a time and all together. No change.

Then found that adding Wikipedia to my 'Trusted Sites' allowed me to click
in and highlight there after all - so there must be some other option that
needs to be on on that site but for which no pop up permission 'yes/no'
panel is generated.

Google did not seem quite the same as once trying to highlight a thread
'killed' the function it would not work on panels where google had allowed
this previously.

However, I tried adding the microsoft.public search thread of Google groups
address into my 'Trusted Sites', and now I can click and copy the thread I
have been wanting a hard copy of at last!

(This poses another question, for which I will start a new thread.)

Still don't really know why one particular section of Google should have
behaved in this way though. Perhaps, with this extra info you can enlighten
me?

Much obliged,

Steve_H

Don Varnau said:
Hi,
To (possibly) rule out the possibility that another program, toolbar,
add-on, BHO, etc is causing this...

If running XP SP2, try IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable third-party
add-ons to see if one of them is the culprit. If not using SP2, try
BHODemon http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3550.html
and/or ToolbarCop: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

If you startup in Safe Mode with Networking, does the problem still occur?
315222 - A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=315222

"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in message
A little more experimentation shows that:

Freshly opened IE will allow me to highlight text in google groups searches,
but if I go to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, and search for an old
thread of my own - for example the extensive one referring to backing
up -
the ability to highlight is 'turned off' for that thread, and even if I
backtrack with the back button, previous texts that were highlightable by
clicking now will not highlight. Effectively the groups thread kills
this
function on IE until it is restarted.

(The WIkipedia 'non clickability' does not affect subsequent windows in this
manner so it seems to be a slightly different problem.)
"Steve Hawkins" wrote in message
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This asks
me
for a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...'
(sorry, I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the
fix eventually said it had completed successfully without this.
Click to expand...
(Wary
of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all
the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all. Can copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?
"Don Varnau" <don_04[at]varnau[dot]org> wrote in message
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in
text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall
"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in
message
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas
these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text on
their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages.
Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes: in
their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the web
pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select
Click to expand...
all'
or
a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one stage,
the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of
languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in
Click to expand...
threads
in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite
a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX
Click to expand...
etc,
but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Ran all of those, making no difference.

Went through all the security setting differences that appear under 'custom
settings' for both the Internet Zone and Trusted Sites.

Changed all the 'disabled' differences between the two, one after the other
but, nothing allows me to click into Wiki, other than putting it in 'Trusted
Sites'!?

('Tidying' my StartUp options to speed up logging on and off while doing
this, I find my start menus freeze when I delete programme shortcuts from
the 'startup' shortcut menu, then have to use Task Manager to log off to get
rid of it! I'll start another thread for this.)

Thanks once again for all your efforts.

Steve


Don Varnau said:
Steve,
Glad you came up with a workaround. I have no idea why you would have to
add
non-secure sites like wikipedia and google groups to Trusted Sites in
order
to select and copy text.

It's a longshot, but you might try re-registering the DLLs listed in the
Resolution section of http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679

I would also add these:
regsvr32 mshtmled.dll
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll
(from http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm )

Don
[MS MVP- IE]


Steve Hawkins said:
Thanks once again Don!

Tried disabling the add ons one at a time and all together. No change.

Then found that adding Wikipedia to my 'Trusted Sites' allowed me to
click
in and highlight there after all - so there must be some other option
that
needs to be on on that site but for which no pop up permission 'yes/no'
panel is generated.

Google did not seem quite the same as once trying to highlight a thread
'killed' the function it would not work on panels where google had
allowed
this previously.

However, I tried adding the microsoft.public search thread of Google groups
address into my 'Trusted Sites', and now I can click and copy the thread
I
have been wanting a hard copy of at last!

(This poses another question, for which I will start a new thread.)

Still don't really know why one particular section of Google should have
behaved in this way though. Perhaps, with this extra info you can enlighten
me?

Much obliged,

Steve_H

Don Varnau said:
Hi,
To (possibly) rule out the possibility that another program, toolbar,
add-on, BHO, etc is causing this...

If running XP SP2, try IE> Tools> Manage add-ons. Disable third-party
add-ons to see if one of them is the culprit. If not using SP2, try
BHODemon http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3550.html
and/or ToolbarCop: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

If you startup in Safe Mode with Networking, does the problem still occur?
315222 - A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=315222

"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in message
A little more experimentation shows that:

Freshly opened IE will allow me to highlight text in google groups
searches,
but if I go to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, and search for an old
thread of my own - for example the extensive one referring to backing
up -
the ability to highlight is 'turned off' for that thread, and even if
I
backtrack with the back button, previous texts that were highlightable by
clicking now will not highlight. Effectively the groups thread kills
this
function on IE until it is restarted.

(The WIkipedia 'non clickability' does not affect subsequent windows
in
this
manner so it seems to be a slightly different problem.)
"Steve Hawkins" wrote in message
Thanks for the leads Don,

I have updated the registry as per your first suggestion, and tried to
follow through the download fix instructions of the second. This
asks
me
for a file that is in the servicepack - ok; then for another 'mswdp...'
(sorry, I've lost it off the clipboard), which wasn't. Surprisingly the
fix eventually said it had completed successfully without this. (Wary
of
reinstalling from the original disc as we are way past that with all
the
service packs and updates since then...)

Still can't click into the search box on Wikipedia, or highlight and
copy
text on either Wikipedia or Google, other than by selecting all.
Can
copy
normally from other sites such as BBC and Adobe, so what is special
about
Wiki and Google?

Any further thoughts?
"Don Varnau" <don_04[at]varnau[dot]org> wrote in message
Hi,
See if this helps:
Internet Explorer "About" box is completely blank ; Unable to type in
text
boxes in websites
http://www.winxptutor.com/ieabout.htm

Plan B (if running WinXP)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#Reinstall
"Steve Hawkins" <steve.a.hawkins[at]ntl(nospam)world.com> wrote in
message
Still having problems with this, and not getting any answers, whereas
these
columns usually are so helpful.

Have just asked of Wikipedia, why it is that I have to use 'select
all'
to
get into their search box, and cannot highlight portions of text
on
their
pages to copy, though 'select all' still lets me copy whole pages.
Wiki,
say its nothing to do with them and they do not do browser
support.

I have previously noted this problem with Google's search boxes:
in
their
case I can enter search terms in the search bar, but not on the
web
pages -
again I can often initially get into these boxes with a 'select all'
or
a
right click, but even this capacity is gradually lost, and at one
stage,
the
Google labels also gradually changed to gobbledegook mixtures of
languages.

I had no reply from Google to my query about this either, nor to
my
recent
request here for reasons why I am unable to highlight text in threads
in
Google groups.

I generally browse with fairly high security settings and have to do
quite
a
lot of clicking on whether or not to accept scripts and ActiveX etc,
but
this problem persists even after refreshing and accepting all of
these.

This is a very irritating problem.

Does anyone out there know what can be done about it?

This is with XPPro and IE6 and it is all regularly updated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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