Internet explorer has stopped working. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

When the shortcut is clicked, this error message appears and Internet explorer fails to load. The problem could be due to a security setting that becomes overzealous, and closes down IE completely. To access the internet settings, browse to the control panel and select internet properties and then advanced settings.

Control Panel > Internet Properties > Advanced

The box to deactivate is called “Enable memory protection to help mitigate online attacks”. If you found this feature was running when opening the internet properties, it could be what was causing IE to fail. Uncheck the option and hit apply, hopefully the program will launch with success.

Experiences like this can be annoying, but the important thing to remember is that Internet Explorer is not “standards compliant”. This means that web pages do not show up on a page the way that they were designed to either because of programming negligence or they just don’t want to play by the rules. Also, Microsoft and it’s software like IE are closed source, and thus security holes and irregularities go unfixed for years.

For the most enjoyment possible from the internet, get a real browser like Firefox or Opera, and remove Vista.