.JPG)
2008 Browns season
Franklin vs. Carlisle girls soccer
Edgewood vs. Miamisburg girls soccer
Turning off script error message is safe and easy
Cox News Service
October 30, 2005
Q: I'm having a problem when I use Internet Explorer with Windows XP. Sometimes when I access a Web site I get a message that says "Internet Explorer Script Error." How do I eliminate this?
— Ronnie Parks
|
More Tech Q&A |
The message is generated by a feature in Internet Explorer that is seldom needed by people like you and me. The feature helps the people who create Web pages find errors in them. Each time it finds an error, the message that you're seeing is generated. As you've learned, most Web pages have lots of errors. So there are lots of error messages.
Turning off this feature is completely safe and easy. I recommend it.
Here's how: With your Web browser open and on the screen, click on the menu item labeled Tools. Then select Internet Options. Click on the tab labeled Advanced.
You'll see a long list of items, all with check boxes on the left. Find the item that says "disable script debugging" and place a check mark in the box.
That's all there is to it. You'll no longer be bugged by script debugging.
Q: I'm moving to a 50-year-old house that had some upgrade work done on its electrical panel when some renovation was done. But most of the outlets were left in the two-prong state they were in.
Is it necessary for me to spend the money to run a three-wire grounded circuit for my computer and accessories from the panel, or would a uninterruptible power supply, with or without the added surge protector, be satisfactory to ward off possible problems because of lack of ground wire in the circuit?
Can a ground wire be added, connected to a proper "ground," i.e., metal plumbing? Thanks.
— Paul Hippmann
A: A UPS (uninterruptible power supply) won't help at all. Nor do I recommend trying to create your own ground connection by running a wire to a water pipe or some other ground. There is only one thing to do, and that's to hire a licensed electrician to create a grounded circuit that meets the requirements of the electrical code in your area.
One solution used by untrained do-it-yourself electricians (another term for idiot) is to replace the existing receptacle with a GFCI, a ground fault circuit interrupter. Installed properly, it will provide some level of protection against electrocution. However, it does not protect your computer electrically, nor does it ground your computer.
There is no quick and easy substitute for a professionally installed grounded circuit.
Q: I have Outlook Express set up to delete messages that contain certain offensive words. Despite these precautions, a form of spam manages to get through. These are mostly messages trying to sell Viagra or other medicines. They have their messages contained in a box that seems to be immune to programs trying to stop them. Is there any way to stop these types of messages?
— C. Huber
A: Here's why those messages are getting through despite the fact that you've blocked the keywords contained in the message. That box in the message that you are seeing is a photo. So instead of text — which can be searched for keywords — the box is literally a picture of the e-mail message.
So you can read it just fine, but programs that look for keywords see a photo, not text. That means the blocking feature can't see the words at all. It's a common ploy used by spammers. There's no perfect countermeasure. However, there are both services and software that use a different technique to block spam. Instead of using keywords, or blocking e-mail addresses for suspected spammers, the programs — in effect — block everything from letters from your mom to real spam.
When someone e-mails you for the first time, they receive an automated message asking them to prove their identity by copying some text contained in that first message. Spammers aren't going to take the time to do that.
This is called "challenge and response" blocking. Atlanta-based EarthLink offers this service to its subscribers. There also is commercial software that uses the same technique. One commercial program is called MailFrontier (www.mailfrontier.com).
These programs work — and you may like them. I don't use one because I don't like making friends and readers answer the challenge. But I can easily see why this method is attractive to many people.
Please send your questions to Bill Husted at bhusted @ajc.com. While he reads every e-mail, not all are answered. E-mails are selected for publication based on the likelihood that the answers will be of general interest.
