Tech Issue With Webcam Chatroom For Me

[Mitchell]

I just tried entering the webcam chatroom. On two different occasions, it became evident that my computer does not like that chatroom. I was getting many pop ups that were making my computer freeze, and then the room booted me out, twice, and each time I tried to get back in, the room repeated the boot out. I never have that problem with the regular chatroom.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any thoughts or explanations as to why?

Thanks,
Mitch

 

[fttickler]

Try updates

I just tried entering the webcam chatroom. On two different occasions, it became evident that my computer does not like that chatroom. I was getting many pop ups that were making my computer freeze, and then the room booted me out, twice, and each time I tried to get back in, the room repeated the boot out. I never have that problem with the regular chatroom.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any thoughts or explanations as to why?

Thanks,
Mitch

Mitch Make sure your Windows is up to Date.. also.. what Windows flavor are you running?

Adam

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks, Adam. I have Windows XP, and I get all the automatic updates. I think my computer just did an update this week, come to think of it.

If I cant get into the webcam chat, I'll just wait out until the regular room is fixed, but I appreciate the advice.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

These may be related to the iframe advertisements the A/V chatroom displays. Are you able to disable iframes in your internet browser? I may be able to tell you how if you let me know which browser you use.

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks, HDS. I believe it's IE 6.0.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Can you confirm that for certain? If you open IE and go to the "Help" menu at the top of the browser window, you'll see an "About Internet Explorer" option. Click it, and it will tell you the version for certain.

 

[Mitchell]

Yes, I can confirm it for certain. I just opened it, and it said IE 6.0.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Have you considered upgrading to a more recent version of Internet Explorer or a different browser? I'll try to work with you and IE6 if you like, but that version of IE is known to have many security holes and incompatibilities. You will be better served, both with this issue and others, by updating your browser. I can help you with this if you like.

 

[Mitchell]

Kurch and I have discussed my upgrading in the past, but it didnt seem necessary. If you have any advice, it would be appreciated. I've never done a browser upgrade before, so I don't know what to do.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Oh, it isn't necessary in the sense that "if you don't do it, you will suffer a horrible death" or anything like that. But, staying at this old version does leave you vulnerable to problems like this chatroom issue and various security vulnerabilities IE6 exposes.

You have a choice if you want to try an upgrade, then. Do you want to upgrade IE or try a different browser? Whichever you choose will be a change in the look and feel of the browser, so don't be afraid to try a different browser. I will note that it is easier to simply adopt a new browser than it is to upgrade IE, but I will gladly help you upgrade IE if you prefer that path.

 

[Mitchell]

I'm really not sure what to do, HDS. What happens to my homepage and favorites if I do the upgrade, etc? I guess after using this for seven years, I'm just wondering, Also, how do I do the upgrade, and how long does it take?

Any answers you have would be appreciated. Thanks.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

If there is uncertainty, then trying an alternative browser is the best test case. Don't like it? Uninstall it and go back to IE6. That seems a reasonable thing to try.

I'm going to recommend we try this with Mozilla Firefox first. Most alternative browsers offer to import favorites and other settings from IE when you install them, and Firefox does it in a fairly simple manner. You won't loose anything.

The upgrade takes relatively little time. It is nothing more than installing a program (like Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop) and that process's time is dependent on your computer's speed. I would venture that it would take less than fifteen minutes, and probably less than five. Would you like to try this?

 

[Mitchell]

I suppose so, yes. Let;s go through the process. Although I'm not going to be home much the next couple of days, so it may be Friday before I have a chance to do it. Take me through the steps and I'll try it.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Okay, we'll give this a shot. =)

1. Visit the Firefox Homepage (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html).

2. Look to the right for a green button labeled "Download Now - Free". Click it.

3. You should be prompted to download a file. Make a note of where it saves to.

4. Go to the saved file (or tell IE to open it after downloading it; your choice) and double-click on it to run it.

5. Follow the instructions to install Firefox.

6. At some point during the installation or when opening Firefox for the first time, it will ask you if you want to import settings/favorites into Firefox from Microsoft Internet Explorer. Be certain to say yes when it asks this.

7. When the installation is finished, it should launch Firefox automatically. If this does not happen, go to the "Start" menu, look in "All Programs", and find the "Mozilla Firefox" program icon. It may be in a folder called "Mozilla Firefox". Clicking that icon will open Firefox.

Let me know if any of that confuses or does not work.

 

[Mitchell]

Okay, thanks. I'm going to write down your steps on paper, to make sure I dont mess anything up. Might as well try it now, and see what happens.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

I'll be on a little while yet if you have issues tonight. Note that nothing you do will harm IE6, so you can install this free of worry that it will alter IE6 in any way.

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks, I think I may have messed something up. I did all the steps, but now I have an internet explorer option on my computer, and a firefox option. Also, the firefox option doesnt seem to have all the things I had on IE such as the favorites with the TMF, or other sites. I dont know what I did wrong, but something isnt right.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Do you see something called "Bookmarks" in Firefox? That is the equivalent of Favorites in IE.

If it did not give you the option to import information from IE, go to the "File" menu of Firefox and click "Import". Follow the steps given to import information from IE.

 

[Mitchell]

Okay, I'm slowly getting it, and figuring out favorites. It does move faster, and does seem to be importing the different favorites from the IE. It's just going to take some getting used to. Thanks for the assistance, HDS. It is appreciated.

Take care, my friend.
Mitch

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Let me know if you need any other help, Mitch. Explore the new features, particularly tabs. You can open new pages in different tabs instead of windows (as was the case with IE6). If you have multiple pages open at once, this saves much time. To open in a tab, you can either hold the CTRL key and left-click on a link or actually "click" the scroll wheel of your mouse (if present) down like a button as you hover over a link. That's probably the biggest bonus to this upgrade for you, outside of the additional security.

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks, pal, I appreciate it. While it does look and feel different, one feature I noticed immediately is that it is much, much faster than IE 6. It's probably like switching from the old AOL dial up I had in 2002, to the high speed Comcast I have now.

I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I've been online for almost eight years now, so in time, I'll figure it all out.

Mitch