Solved IE 11 Opens a Blank Page Under My Home Page On Startup.

[voyager]

A few weeks ago IE began opening a second page on start up.
I have Win7 x64, and IE Update version 11.0.31.

When I start IE, my search engine home page opens with a blank page opening under it.
It is happening every time I open IE.
It has become very irritating.

my suspicion is that some malware was installed, then caught by my AV and stopped or removed.
I can see no other reason for this to have begun happening.
I can find no malware on my PC now.

How can I stop IE from opening the extra browser page?

 

[Ranger4]

Try opening Control Panel, select Internet Options, when that opens, select the General tab & see what is listed under Home Page. You may need to remove or change the opening page.

 

[voyager]

Thank you, sir.
The home page had " about:blank " appended to it.
Deleting that stopped the action.

 

[voyager]

I just had it open a duplicate page with the search engine home page instead of a blank page.
I went into internet options and deleted as duplicate search engine home page entry.
After a few restarts of IE, it has not done it again, yet.
But, I have the very strong feeling that it will do it again.
I'll get back if it does or it doesn't.
I'll try to see what sets it off.

 

[Ranger4]

Thanks for getting back. Hopefully it has been fixed.

 

[voyager]

Now I'm getting a bit confused.
I just tried to open IE. It hangs on the "Waiting for ..." note on the tab.
Opera, Chrome and Pale Moon are all opening the home page with no problems.

I'm going to check on updates for my Win7 install and IE.
I'll get back after that.

EDIT:
After closing The browser, I get a "spinning circle" waiting cursor against the desktop.
Checking Task manager, System Idle is the only thing running at 95 to 99%.
There are 4 instances of iexplore.exe running.
IE is not running right now.
I'm going to shut them all down to see what happens.

Some satisfaction, I've got the arrow cursor back.
But, IE still hangs on the "Waiting for ..." tab.
I'm beginning to wonder if I might need to do a clean reinstall for Win7.
I haven't done one in a very long time.
Errors may be accumulating.
I did do a non destructive rebuild a few months ago.
I'll try the updates first.

 

[Ranger4]

Keep us posted on what happens. Try the updates first & if that fails you could also try clearing IE history & cookies. Then if all those fail perhaps a fresh install might be worth doing.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Voyager,

a complete reinstall of W7 is not neccessary
IE11 is a feature.
You can "uninstall" it via programs/features turn features on/off. untick in features window
REBOOT

then turn it back on.


if that fails to clean up your issues then we can force uninstall it, see screenshot
your system will revert to your last version if IE

further reading here
Internet Explorer 11 - Uninstall in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums


Roy

 

[voyager]

Thanks guys.
I just did my Win7 updates.
I use WSUS Offline to do them.
It also updated IE to Update Version 11.0.46.
I'll run it for a while and see what happens.
If it's still buggy, then I'll try the IE uninstall/reinstall.
Everything I need to do that should be in the WSUS Offline package for my Win7.

Worse comes to worse, I can use the basic Win7 install image that I keep with all drivers, mobo aps, and maintenance utilities. Backing everything up and reinstalling the apps is the pain. It can take a day or two, sometimes more, to get done.

 

[voyager]

Still got problems with IE.
I've just found web pages that will not open with IE but will with the other browsers.
My feeling is that shouldn't be.
IE is supposedly the standard to which web pages are made to work to.
All other browsers are built to be compatible.

Well, when I get some time, I'll rip IE out and put a new one in.
Hopefully it'll work then.
If not, It'll be time to rip everything out and start all over again.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Voyager,

As your running with Palemoon, me to and Waterfox, why bother with IE11, just turn it off.

You could run a couple of system repair tools, just in case something else is causing problems.
SURT- Kb947821 and sfc /scannow.

Also reset your internet options via control panel, and check the Add-ons options


Roy

 

[voyager]

While Pale Moon is my default browser, I have a specific need to use 2 other browsers for a specific purpose. Chrome is one and IE is the other. To be honest, that is all I use them for, one specific operation several times a day. I could use Opera, I suppose, but I'm setup and used to using IE to do it.
Plus, I hate it when something doesn't work right.
Then, it gets maddening when it keeps morphing into something else.
I end up getting like a dog with a bone about it.
I'm going to set it aside for a bit, then come back to gnaw on it a bit later.
Thanks

 

[Ranger4]

voyager. Have a look at this website & see if that helps you.

Fix : Cannot change Internet Explorer Start page | Home Page | TroubleShoot Windows

 

[voyager]

I took a look at that article.
I do have an odd entry behind the IE location: "-extoff".


I can find no explanation for what it is or does.

Also, many of my registry entries are different than those referred to.
I'll go back and play with it later when I get ma bit more time.

 

[Ranger4]

Did you delete the "-extoff" as mentioned in that website. There should be nothing after the quotation marks at the end. This is my IE target. There should be quotation marks at the start & at the end.

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"

 

[voyager]

I haven't played with it yet, haven't had time to follow up if it gets complicated.
Had to go up an do some work on the roof today. Tomorrow we're going over to the other side of the island to COSTCO to do our bulk shopping. Then, the next day I'll be back up on the roof again.

Still got problems with IE, though.
It wouldn't open a web page today. Had to go to Pale Moon to get it open.
Gotta go get some sleep so I can drive over to Kona tomorrow morning.

 

[voyager]

Well, it's raining today, can't work on the roof.
But, the problem seems to have gone away for now.
IE now looks to be working properly.
Thanks for your help so far.
If it comes back, I'll be back.
I'll mark it SOLVED and start over if the problem comes back.

My galfriend is having a problem with Outlook.
I'll be working on that a little later today, or tomorrow.
I'll be back with a few questions when I'm ready to begin on it.

Thanks again.

 

[Ranger4]

Thanks for getting back & hopefully it is now working properly.

 

[voyager]

One thing I did do that often times will fix buggy problems similar to what I was having with IE, was to shut the PC down and de-energize the mobo, switch the power off at the PS, or unplug it.
Whether or not that is the reason things are OK now, I do not know.
But, if it starts up again, I will do it again, and check more closely to see if that is what clears it up.

 

[Ranger4]

Shutting down the computer cna help if you normally leave it on all the time. I shut mine down whenever I have finished with it & I shut off the UPS & turn off the power to it as well.

I get a lot of power outages here & during the summer, occasional electrical storms so a UPS is essential to prevent data corruption due to sudden power outages.