URL's (Links) in MSN.com "Hotmail" do not work.

[Rueful Rogue]

None of the URL's (links) in any e-mail's from MSN hotmail work. The "print view" and "help" buttons on the tool bars also are inactive. Everything else appears normal. From a couple of postings way back (which I read two days ago), some said it might be the firewall. I use Norton's Personal Firewall and I disabled it to see if that corrected the problem. It did not. I use IE 6.0.2800.1106 and Win Me. All IE and Win Me updates have been downloaded and installed. I'm on a high speed wideband wireless ISP with a P3-1GHz, 384 MB RDram box. I've run Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, and a complete virus scan with Norton. Nothing turns up. IE works in every other way. Just dead links in the e-mails. (side bar ad links work OK). Holding the CONTROL key down while clicking on the URL's does not work either. No error messages or lock ups experienced.

I've seen a lot of postings on this problem, but none of the answers solve my problem. I'm currently moving stuff to another browser, but I'd sure like to know what's going on in MSN's Hotmail.

Any ideas?

[crunchie]

Do you have an on board proxy like proxomitron? Found that it can play up with MSN.

[Rueful Rogue]

Please explain "on board proxy like proxomitron". I have no idea what this is.

[crunchie]

I would say that you do not have one :). It's a small program that you install on your PC that filters out ads in web pages, as well as a few other things. It can interfere with javascripts.

[Rueful Rogue]

Thank you Crunchie for the explanation. After asking this question, I did read the many posts in the "Coffee House" regarding the how, when, where, etc. of posting and asking questions and bit my lip while I awaited the dreaded RTFM or some simular reply. Thanks for taking it easy on a newbi. I did a Google search on "proxy" and even after having read several definitions, I'm not sure I fully understand its real function suffice to say that it is something doing something on someone else's behalf and protecting that some one's real identy???

And I think you are correct - I do not have one. I do block all pop ups with my firewall, but I did try turning that off to no avail. I also tried the old "Hold the CTRL button while clicking on the URL" trick which also did not work. I have not had any problems with Java script running on my PC and Sun's latest version loaded.

With the number of similar postings of people having similar problems with MSN's links not responding, I think something else is a player here. Eventually, this forum will solve it and hopefully all will benefit.

[Rueful Rogue]

EVERYONE - PLEASE TAKE NOTE!

It would appear that Microsoft has been working on IE to expand capabilities. In the next day or so, your standard 2 MB storage space will expand to 250 MB and your attachment limits will be expanded from 1 MB to 10 MB. WOW! I received a notice in my mail box dated Nov 17th, 2004 regarding these changes. BUT WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT is that with this notice being received, all the stuff that wouldn't work before is now all working. All links (URL's) once again function and the "print view" and "help" buttons both work as well. I guess we may have been chasing our tails on this one and Microsoft was at fault from the beginning. Go figure!!!

[Racket]

i've had same problem--received mail upgrade---still have problem with pages "inside hotmail" loading slowly or not at all. In my case, everything "outside hotmail" loads fine. What else could it be?

[Rueful Rogue]

I haven't received the upgrade yet, just the e-mail telling me that it would occur between now and the end of November. But...upon receipt of this notification, everything which wouldn't work before, is now working fine. I'm on a wireless high speed ISP (broadband connection), so loading the links seems fairly quick to me. Sometime, when they are slow, the bottleneck is at the distant server's end and it's not your PC or your ISP. Don't know what to tell you. Sorry.

[Racket]

Thanks anyway. I've inquired at several different newsgroups and haven't come up with any useful help (apparently a lot of ppl are having the same problem). In case I didn't mention it, "all pages outside hotmail load fine". I have IE6, WinXpHome, Sp2, MsnMessenger 6.2, my ISP is Rogers yahoo (no problems there). I have no virus' or spyware, and I have all new updates from windows update site. I can't get in touch with hotmail support either or their help section. If you find any info, please let me know.

[Racket]

hey, I just noticed something. When I am signed into my Rogers Yahoo and I then try to go to my hotmail, TA-DA!! It all works---no waiting for pages to load. When I am signed out of Rogers yahoo, the pages "in hotmail" take forever. mmmmmmmmmm?

[Racket]

Patience is a virtue....all is working fine...only took 2wks...must have been the upgrades hotmail was makin.