IE Memory Problems
Dennis Rivera
I think that most of us are familiar with the temporary memory problems that
IE has and I was wondering if, perhaps, we could get some action out of
Microsoft if everyone reported the problems that they are having.
An easy way to replicate the problem is to point your browser to media rich
sites. Go through about 10 sites, if your Mac can take it and watch what
happens. Your Mac should come to a screaming halt (or close to it). Also,
every so often, check your application heap and watch the IE heap jump from
20 to 40 to 60 to 70 megs and so on, until you crash.
Now report the problem.
BTW I submitted the problem to Microsoft and this was their response
(below). Some of you may want to try some of these things, even though it's
futile, just to be able to tell the tech that you already tried their
solutions.
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Hi Dennis.
Thank you for using our Web Response Service!
It would be important to have Virtual Memory turned on in your Memory
control panel - you can set it up as high as twice the built-in RAM. Then
reboot and see if the problem occurs.
Also, you could try increasing the preferred memory size to Internet
Explorer. To do this, you would go into your Internet Explorer folder
(after quitting out of IE), highlight the application icon for the
Internet Explorer application by single clicking on it, then go under the
File menu to Get Info (if you are on OS 8.5 choose the Memory option next
to Get Info). In the "memory requirements" section, increase the
preferred memory size by 3000k. If it is at 8000k, set it up to 11000k
as an example.
After increasing the preferred size for Internet Explorer, then see if
the problem still occurs.
It may be it just doesn't have quite enough memory allocated.
If this does not help, and it is a continuing problem, then we can try
the following steps:
Pull your Internet preferences. You can do this by:
++Make sure your Internet Explorer is not currently running before trying
this.
-Double click your Hard Disk
-Double click your System Folder
-Locate your Preferences Folder and open it.
-Find your 'Internet Preferences' and pull them to the desktop (these can
go corrupt like any other preference file).
**Re-launch Internet Explorer. See if the problem still happens. Trash
these preferences after trying to launch Internet Explorer. As soon as
you re-launch the Internet Explorer, another Internet Preference will
automatically be created.
Try it using only minimum extensions.
Go to your Apple Menu, Control panels, Extensions Manager. Create a new
set of extensions, turning on only these extensions:
-TCP/IP
-PPP (or Remote Access)
-Your Modem extensions
-Open Transport
-All Microsoft Extensions
-A dialer-such as Earthlink.
Then see if the problem still occurs.
Rebuild your Desktop, in case there is corruption in the Desktop file
that is affecting IE. Do this by holding down your option and Apple
(command) key and choosing "Restart" from the Special menu on your
desktop. Keep these two keys held down as the computer restarts until
you receive a prompt asking if you want to rebuild the Desktop on your
hard disk. Click OK.
Try running Disk First Aid on the hard drive to make sure there are no
bad sectors that could be causing unusual problems.
You can do this from in your Utilities folder on your hard drive if you
have system 8.0 or newer, or you can run it from your computer's system
CD.
As a last resort we would want to try a CLEAN install of IE 4.5. This
means pulling out all the files listed in the article below before we
reinstall so there is no chance of corruption to be left behind. It is
also a good idea if you downloaded the original copy from the Internet to
download a new copy of Internet Explorer in case the original installer
had some corruption in it. You can download the latest copy at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ie/
Here is a Knowledge Base article that shows you how to remove Internet
Explorer and Outlook Express:
Even though the article deals with the 4.0 version, the files are nearly
identical in 4.5.
How to Manually Uninstall Internet Explorer and Outlook
Express[ierelease]
ID: Q192852 CREATED: 18-SEP-1998 MODIFIED: 18-SEP-1998
MACINTOSH:4.0,4.01,4.0c
MACINTOSH
PUBLIC | kbenv kbsetup msiemac outexmac
======================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4.0, 4.01 for Macintosh
- Microsoft Outlook Express versions 4.0, 4.0c for Macintosh
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY
=======
This article describes how to manually uninstall Internet Explorer and
Outlook Express if you are unable to uninstall Internet Explorer and
Outlook Express with the Installer program.
NOTE: Some files or folders may not be completely removed when you use
the Installer program.
*Also make sure that before you remove your Outlook Express, you save
your contacts folder, located in your Microsoft Internet Applications
Folder; Outlook Express 4.0 Folder; OE Users Folder; Main User Folder;
Contacts. Drag them to your desktop so you can import them into your new
version of Internet Explorer.
MORE INFORMATION
================
To completely remove all components, follow these steps:
1. Create a new folder on the desktop named OldIE. For information about
how to create a folder, please consult the documentation included with
your Macintosh.
2. Locate the following folders:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Folder
- Outlook Express
-or-
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 Folder
- Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01
Move these folders into the OldIE folder you created in step 1. For
information about how to move folders, please consult the
documentation
included with your Macintosh.
3. Locate the System\Extensions folder and remove the following files and
folders if they exist:
- Indeo Video (file)
- Microsoft Component Library (file)
- Indeo Raw Video (file)
- MS Font Embed Library (file)
- ActiveX Controls (folder)
- MS Library Folder (folder)
NOTE: Not all of these files or folders may exist on your computer. If
any of these files or folders does not exist on your computer, skip
the file or folder.
4. Locate the System\Preferences folder. Move the Explorer folder (if it
exists) to the OldIE folder you created in step 1.
5. Restart the computer.
======================================================================
Please try the suggestions shown above. If you need any further
assistance, let us know and we will be happy to help.
Thanks again for using our Web Response service!
Best Regards,
Chantel K.
Microsoft Technical Support
We want you to be completely satisfied. If you have any comments
regarding any aspect of this web based support offering please send
e-mail to dtaw...@microsoft.com.
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Content-Type: application/ms-tnef; name=WINMAIL.DAT
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Mike Linneer (iMacMike)
seemed to delay the problem a bit but didn't solve it. Microsoft (or it's
representatives) has posted here and on other groups that this is the way IE is
supposed to work! Thats fine if all you do is view a few sites then log-off...
but an extended browsing session will come to a crashing halt in no time.
Temporary memory heaps is a good idea, but the implementation is all wrong.
Microsoft should give the user a way to control the heap, say with a memory
cache limit in the preferences panel. That ought to be easy enough, don't you
think Apple Development Team?