I'm a senior helping other seniors in my apartment building. I have three ladies who just received used computers and I'm setting them up for internet. Two of the three I had no problem with, but the third can't seem to access the IE and I'm not sure where the problem is. I checked the add/remove and add/remove windows programs and it's checked there but it says that you need to put in a disc. We don't have a Win XP disc and so I was wondering if it's possible to download the IE8 from the download site onto a memory stick (8 g) and put it into that computer. It's already on the internet. Will it also come with Outlook Express? I think it would. I have never downloaded to a memory stick but I think I can do it..got instructions here from the internet.

Please advise me as to if this is a go, because I have a lovely elderly couple so anxious to use their computer!

Thanks,
Jovin

I'm not sure about IE8, but you can definitely download IE7 from the MS site and put it on a flash drive then install it from there.

Get it here: Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP

Once you have IE7 installed and if it works, then you can do download and install IE8 if you want.

Hmmm, looks like you can get IE8 here.

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I did figure out how to download it to a memory stick, and I put it into the computer and now I don't know whether or not it was even needed. The same thing is happening as before. When you go to open it, it goes to a window that states "What program do you want to open it with" or something similar in wording....don't have a clue what the problem is. The cable guy had this same window when he came to hook it up to the internet, and just gave up and told me that we had to get a disc. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks again for your response.
Jovin

Ah, that information would have helped before

You need to restore the default action for executables.

See here: EXE-LNK fix - #12 on this page, left column - directions for use at the top of the page.

Hi,
Make sure you stop IIS service which may already be running on your PC.

I'm not sure that I can do this, or maybe "should" do it, is what I mean. I'm not too knowledgeable about technical stuff and I'm afraid I might screw things up more. My daughter warned me about changing anything in the registry before, so I'm not quite sure if I can do this without causing more problems.
I guess I would have to download this to the memory stick? Since it's not my computer having the problem, and I can't get hers on the internet to do this.
I'll see what I can do, and I thank you so much for this info. Let me see if I'm bold enough to try it.

Jovin

Originally Posted by alexcarlson

Hi,
Make sure you stop IIS service which may already be running on your PC.

Do you mean the Internet service? I know the cable guy that was trying to connect it said that it WAS on the internet, but he couldn't get the IE to open. If this is what you mean, then do I just turn off the modem when I do it?

Thanks for your reply and the info.
Much appreciated,
Jovin

Jovin, yes, download exefix.reg to the memory stick then take it to the other computer. Double click exefix.reg and answer yes to the import prompt.

This is a very safe operation. It is putting the registry entries back to what they should be. This should then allow you to open Internet Explorer or any other executable (.exe) file.

If you still feel unsure about doing this, you can install a program called ERUNT to make a full backup of the registry first. See here:

How to backup and restore Windows XP registry using ERUNT

then if there are any problems (there won't be) you can restore the backup to put you right back where you are now (you won't).

Thanks for taking the time to help me, but I DID go and do that last night, and I didn't have any luck. After I downloaded it to the memory stick and put it in her computer, when I went to open it, it only gave me a page of all kinds of text....didn't know how to deal with it. I tried about three times, and finally had to give up. I wonder what the problem is....of course it's with ME, but the poor lady is so upset. She's dealing with so much right now...robbery in her apartment, husband with alzheimers and really needs to have something to take her mind off of her problems.

I finally called the organization that donated the computer, and they said they'd have someone come out perhaps next week, so I suppose it's not the end of the world. I'm really disappointed that I can't fix it though.

Do you have any idea why I get that page of text and nothing else?
Thanks again for the time and info you all have been sharing. I did mean to get back to this thread last night, but have been so busy helping the other two ladies, who are very much enjoying learning.

Jovin
ETA: yes, it did say that the info was added to the registry, so I don't know what I've done wrong.

First, make sure the file is called exefix.reg, and not exefix.reg.txt.
Second, right click on it and select Merge, don't Open it.