Computers hate me, obviously.

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 3:02 am

I have no idea how this crap always happens to me, but I tend to get the problems that even my IT friends can't figure out.

I'm unable to log onto my school's server because it says I don't have http cookies enabled or my browser doesn't support them. (I'm running Win7 IE 9) I don't have a single problem with any other website (except Target which gives me the same error) and all the supposed fixes the school's tech dept posted hasn't worked. (Added them to allow sites for all cookies, added to trust sites, etc.) When I called them they told me it was because I use IE and they don't support that so I have to install Firefox. Uh.. what? So I bought a netbook, installed Firefox, finally got onto the server and then my netbook refused to save wifi passwords and no one could tell me how to fix it. When I contacted Acer, they said it would cost me an extra $130 for them to fix it (I had the thing for less then 6 days!) so I took it back. Now I can't get on the server again.

Seriously - how can I be the only person at this entire school who has this problem? And why the heck do these things always happen to me?!

Anyways, my point: I have to get another netbook/small notebook but I'm scared to death to buy anything anymore. I've found 3 in the size I want and my price range - a Dell 11z, Lenovo ThinkPad, and a Sony Vaio - is there anything I need to know about them that would make them a bad buy? I may just lose it if I have any more issues with this crap.

Oh and if anyone can tell me how to fix the cookie issue, without installing Firefox, that would be dandy too. So I can, I don't know.. register for my classes while I wait for another laptop to ship.
User avatar
Stu Clarke
 
Posts: 3326
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:45 pm

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 1:02 am

I doubt it's a cookie issue unless you configured your Internet options by hand. Most likely the site is just incompatible with IE9 and needs to be ran in compatibility mode. School IT support is among the worst out there and will absolutely refuse to touch anything that doesn't fit nicely in their boxes, so as soon as you mention IE9 they get an escape route out of their flow chart to "tell them 'haha, too bad svcker'".

Still, Firefox/Chrome is an all-around better option anyway.

Also, I never noticed your response to the other thread as I had a finalshortly after posting in it. More then likely you were using some third-party wifi application and Acer wanted to charge you $130 to uninstall it.
User avatar
ezra
 
Posts: 3510
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:40 pm

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 9:42 am

Yes, this school tech was rather rude actually. Like, he was God and I was some random idiot you dared question his greatness. So that's why I picked up that Acer netbook and put Firefox on it but I didn't like it very much.. I'd much rather stay with IE on the computers I use for non-school related stuff. If it was something as simple as uninstalling a program on the Acer, I'll be sad. I really liked that little thing, but was floored they wanted to charge me that much after I JUST purchased it. Not that most other companies would be any better... their warranties only cover hardware and not software issues too, but some have 10-14 day software support. I asked one of my friends to help me fix it, but he said he hadn't heard of the issue and never got back to me about it. I had no choice but to either pay the extra $130, which I'm not doing that soon after purchase, or take it back.

And now I can't even try anything else with the cookie issue on my current laptop or I'll get locked out of the school server... again. (Already had to have them reset my access twice because of this.) Am I wrong that most people use IE? And if that's the case, why would you ever make a site for a school incompatible? I'm just so frustrated at this point it's not even funny. I just need to find another small notebook ASAP.
User avatar
Chris Duncan
 
Posts: 3471
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:31 am

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 4:11 am

And now I can't even try anything else with the cookie issue on my current laptop or I'll get locked out of the school server... again. (Already had to have them reset my access twice because of this.) Am I wrong that most people use IE? And if that's the case, why would you ever make a site for a school incompatible? I'm just so frustrated at this point it's not even funny. I just need to find another small notebook ASAP.
They don't make it incompatible on purpose, IE9 just has a lot of quirks and some websites just don't work properly on it. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299331, see if that fixes it.

IE has never really been a great browser, it's used the most just because it's installed by default on Windows.
User avatar
Jesus Lopez
 
Posts: 3508
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:16 pm

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 3:11 am

T@rget is an annoying legacy system. Install IE 8, or use chrome/Opera/Firefox whatever suggested. Remove all add-ons that cling to your browser, not just disable, uninstall them completely. Keep only Flash and shockwave to you machine. Then try it again.

Your netbook won't saving passwords could be due to security settings, on your part or on server side. Normally it's software issue, not hardware. Try looking for updated driver package for your netbook. Or switch to an older one.

It's not your luck. You're looking at legacy system and incompetent tech supports.
User avatar
Heather Stewart
 
Posts: 3525
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:04 pm

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 8:37 am

Have you kicked, punched and screamed at it yet?
The first 2 are more effective, if they fail whack it off a table or wall.
User avatar
Rex Help
 
Posts: 3380
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:52 pm

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 6:49 am

T@rget is an annoying legacy system. Install IE 8, or use chrome/Opera/Firefox whatever suggested. Remove all add-ons that cling to your browser, not just disable, uninstall them completely. Keep only Flash and shockwave to you machine. Then try it again.

Your netbook won't saving passwords could be due to security settings, on your part or on server side. Normally it's software issue, not hardware. Try looking for updated driver package for your netbook. Or switch to an older one.

It's not your luck. You're looking at legacy system and incompetent tech supports.
I can't uninstall IE as some of the sites I use say that they aren't compatible with Firefox. So I'll be stuck trying to navigate between the two. As for the netbook, I was sure it was a software issue or setting but I tried to reset security settings, uninstalled the antivirus program, everything I could find on Google about the issue (which isn't much, btw), and it still wouldn't save. I had to return because I couldn't figure it out.

Have you kicked, punched and screamed at it yet?
The first 2 are more effective, if they fail whack it off a table or wall.
I think I've done the girl's equivalent of that: Screamed, cursed, and cried. lol

And I know, Narmy - it's just used because it comes with Windows, but it's still most widely used. I just don't want multiple browsers on my computer and like I said above, I can't switch over to Firefox completely. ( I can on the secondary netbook I hope to get being all it's going to be used for is school.) And that link sounds EXACTLY like what's going on. But I don't want to allow all cookies on my computer, so I added them to my allow site list that's SUPPOSE to allow all cookies from their address, but it didn't work.
User avatar
Alyna
 
Posts: 3412
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:54 am

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 7:40 am

Have you kicked, punched and screamed at it yet?
The first 2 are more effective, if they fail whack it off a table or wall.

This always works for me too.
User avatar
Daniel Lozano
 
Posts: 3452
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:42 am

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 6:46 am

I can't uninstall IE as some of the sites I use say that they aren't compatible with Firefox. So I'll be stuck trying to navigate between the two. As for the netbook, I was sure it was a software issue or setting but I tried to reset security settings, uninstalled the antivirus program, everything I could find on Google about the issue (which isn't much, btw), and it still wouldn't save. I had to return because I couldn't figure it out.
I highly doubt you go to sites incompatible with Firefox. Pretty much every site under the sun is compatible with Firefox nowadays. Could you link to a site that you think isn't compatible with Firefox?

To put things in perspective: I use one of the least popular browsers out there (Opera) and it's rare even for me to run into issues on the modern web.

And I know, Narmy - it's just used because it comes with Windows, but it's still most widely used. I just don't want multiple browsers on my computer and like I said above, I can't switch over to Firefox completely. ( I can on the secondary netbook I hope to get being all it's going to be used for is school.) And that link sounds EXACTLY like what's going on. But I don't want to allow all cookies on my computer, so I added them to my allow site list that's SUPPOSE to allow all cookies from their address, but it didn't work.
The latest version(s)* of both Firefox and Chrome are more popular than IE8 or IE9.

*due to the use of rapid-release cycles for Firefox and Chrome, at any given moment it may be N +/- 1 versions of Firefox or Chrome to make it more popular depending on how many people are on beta builds and haven't yet triggered the automatic update. As such I count those using beta builds and those not yet recieving the automatic update as effectively the latest version. It's really the only way to get useful browser statistics nowadays since "Other" is the single most popular browser version for both Firefox and Chrome by any web statistic tracker.
User avatar
Emily Shackleton
 
Posts: 3535
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:36 am

Post » Tue May 22, 2012 3:25 am

Internet explorer has become a rather quirky browser over the years. I don't like suggesting solutions that require much change on the part of the user, but honestly the only thing I can think of in this scenario is that you switch to another browser.

I used to use Firefox all the time, but it's become bloated and slow over the years so I don't really like it anymore. After that, I used Google Chrome for some time before it decided it wasn't going to update itself anymore for no reason. But nowadays I used Opera - it's extraneous features (mouse "gestures") are kind of annoying, but you can turn them all off, and then it's just a nice blend of Firefox's functionality with Chrome's speed and simplicity. I like it.
User avatar
Dean Brown
 
Posts: 3472
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:17 pm


Return to Othor Games