View Source

Do I have a Virus

[natim]

Overnight I have noticed that I can no longer view source on my sites or any others. Is it likely that I have gotten a virus. Have Norton running all the time. There have been no recent updates to IE and all patches are up to date.

[redzone]

You most likely don't have a virus..

I/E get's clogged sometimes, and this disables the ability to view source..

Clear history first, and then see if that cures the problem.. At times I have had to clear cache also....

[tigger]

I normally find clearing the history sorts it

[lukasz]

After I installed .net it stopped working.

[korkus2000]

Clear the temporary internet files. You probably have filled the available space. IE likes to keep a file of every site you have been to until you run out of room. The symptom of too many internet files is you cannot view source.

[thehittmann]

there is a program that some people use that disables view source. there have been other topics on this program in the forums. I can't think of the name of the top of my head though sorry.

[Rossv1]

I recently had this problem at work on a Windows 2000 machine. Believe it or not, (at least in 2k, I'm not sure about other 9x, me, or XP) if you put a shortcut to Notepad on your desktop or in the quick launch bar, you will not be able to view source code. Deleting the shortcuts fixes this problem. (it's true...try it!)

[thehittmann]

i heard about this one aswell

[top5jamaica]

i am having the exact problem right now.
in the past i have rebooted and that worked for a while. maybe i'll try that deleting the temporary internet files suggestion

[Purple Martin]

Believe it or not, (at least in 2k, I'm not sure about other 9x, me, or XP) if you put a shortcut to Notepad on your desktop or in the quick launch bar, you will not be able to view source code.

I used XP for a long time with a shortcut to Notepad in my taskbar, and I could still view source. Every month or so view source would stop working - emptying the temporary internet files folder fixed it every time.

[natim]

I have tried all the suggestions so far none have worked. Just noticed after clearing History, Temps and cookies that now won't maintain login passwords to frequent sites. Also can't change my home page, greyed out. Any ideas?

[keyplyr]

>>Any ideas?

Scan your system for scumware. h*tp://www.safer-networking.org/

[ncw164x]

>>Deleting the shortcuts fixes this problem. (it's true...try it!)

You are correct, just deleted the icon and I can view source again. I had this problem since last summer and could not figure it out.

Thank you very much Rossv1 :)

ncw164x

[tedster]

Ah, just one more reason to avoid the default text editor that MS gives you. There are several better ones available. I haven't used Notepad in years.

Thanks for the tip - it helped a friend.

[twist]

If you think you have a virus or worse and it's not just a simple fix then follow these directions,

1) Open your control panel and use Add/Remove and get rid of all software that you no longer use. I have seen poorly written software wreak havoc on windows systems. Also get rid of any useless programs like screensaver software or browser add-ons. Any goofy software that changes context menus or runs in the background.

Have Norton running all the time.

2) Get rid of Norton which bloats your system and offers little to no protection against anything.

3) Download AdAware are any similiar program that finds spyware on your computer.

4) You didn't say what version of windows you are using but anyway, open up your run menu and type msconfig

I don't remember if it's in the same spot for all versions of windows but look for something that says "Load Startup Items" with a checkbox of some sort next to it. Uncheck this box and reboot your computer.

When your computer reboots open up msconfig again and go to the Startup tab. See if any programs have re-checked themselves. If any programs have. Do a search on google and see what they are.

None of the above may help but none can hurt either. Oh, and if you really want to protect your system from virus's and what not don't waste your time with all those software firewalls. a) Get a hardware firewall and use it, there pretty cheap these days and offer protection without updates or patches every other day. b) Don't install gimmick software or content from questionable sites c) Dont open email attachments.

Good luck.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

A way to find out if it's due to a full cache is to try and save an JPG image from a website to your computer. If your cache is full, you can only save it as BMP, not as the original JPG. This doesn't work with GIF, somehow.

[Chris_R]

What korkus said - delete the temporary files. Same solution to what Zaphod mentioned.

[PatrickDeese]

I just want to thank y'all. My assistant's machine hasn't been able to view source in months. They've been using mozilla if they need to see the source code of a page.

Stupid IE.

[natim]

Thanks for all the advice and have tried everything suggested with no success. I can save the .jpg so that's not it. 2 things that bother me most are not able to view source and I can't change my default home page, it's greyed out. Any other suggestions?

[robert adams]

try repairing or reinstalling windows on top of itself. won't hurt anything and that may be what you need.
luck,
robert