Windows 7 Professional IE 10 blocking all downloads

[DaveJames]

Hello everyone,
First I will say I have done due diligence in trying to solve this problem and read many a forum. Most of them are all past 180 days.
I service a Church network. One of the Suddenly stopped allowing downloads.
When they try to download from Outlook.com and from any website, the error "This file couldn't be downloaded" comes up. I do get the "run save' yellow box at the bottom of the screen first.
Windows 7 Professional
IE10
Microsoft Silverlight is update
Internet Options>Advanced>The box is unchecked for Do not save encrypted pages to disk.
I have disabled all Add Ons.
Ran Windows Update.
Cleared Cache and Cookies.
Restarted the machine.
Tried downloading Firefox from the FF site and got the same error. So I know it isn't Outlook.com.
Reset IE settings to default.

This is what the error looks like. I do not have an exact date when they started experiencing it. Other PCs on the network are not having this problem.

Does anyone know what else I can check?

 

[Night Hawk]

The first thing you can try would be downloading the next copy of IE 10 on a different machine to be transferred to that particular system for a fresh install of IE in the event the browser files themselves have become corrupted or missing. From there you first uninstall the present copy in preparation for the fresh install to insure the best results.

To tend to that once you have copied the download installation file for IE 10 from another machine or downloaded direct to a usb flash drive you would go into the Control Panel>Windows Updates and look at the bottom left for the Installed Updates link there. Under Windows updates IE is found. It may have an update number since you are seeing the final version not the preview now seen for IE 11 which is seen as Internet Explorer 11 by name.

Once removed the fresh install of 10 can proceed without problem. Note this would be the corrective measure if it is found that no setting changes were made in the Security tab or other that are causing the blocks on downloads to be seen. The fresh install of IE of course would insure all files are intact and in working order.

 

[nigelmercier]

I've got the same problem, but clicking Run instead of Save works.

 

[richnrockville]

fwiw: I always select the "save as" option and then put the file in a directory of my choosing.

Rich

 

[Night Hawk]

Same here! I'll save any download to a folder of choice and then run it when browsing to the folder unless downloading multiple times where I then use the Run option for the last.

 

[ThrashZone]

See if this helps,
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/300685-cant-download.html

 

[Night Hawk]

The next question should be what type of system protections if any are inplace? Jacee discovered a rootkit on the system being discussed on the older thread while this may not have anything to do with any malware but something as simple as a registry error where IE is concerned.

A full security sweep of the system in question won't hurt any either way. What I have found after all the years and various av and other programs is one product with a 30day free license for the trial period that will find and remove almost any bug out there with the exception of certain scam wares and other fake programs that require user interaction. VIPRE Internet Security 2014 free trial

GFI just update the site for next year's version just becoming available. If the pcs are not behind any other firewall or av softwares this would be the time to give one a try as well as scan for any possible malware.

Speaking of firewalls and av programs that is another to consider as a possible explanation for why you are not able to download anything in particular. If the security is set too high that could be blocking all or some sites have been filtered automatically. That would need to be looked into.

 

[Layback Bear]

Night Hawk has a good point. Some infection will block downloads.
They do this to try and stop you from downloading programs to find and remove infections. They also at time change your internet options.

 

[Night Hawk]

I had to manually remove one exe file that took over for the taskmanager preventing you from ending the process on one scam ware. I found the exe file under a user account folder and reported that by name to the av support staff. They wanted to try out a then new removal tool but too late since once I had moved the file to a new location I booted up in safe mode and nuked it off the drive.

The subsequent scan with the av program itself found the 4 trojans and rogue program and saw those files dumped fast afterwards. The scam was seeing the 4 trojans dumped on the system and then the fake prompted you to buy the non existant program to see them removed. The trojans by themselves however didn't actually do anything but scare you into the scam!

Other bugs hide in downloads as revealed in zip file or rar file form as legit tools for Windows. If someone happened to download a bugged zip file and opened it the bug inside went to work fast. Things like the Lan settings as Layback Bear points out are often another trick a bug will tend to first off. If you are not manually configuring the IP and Mac addresses the Automatically detect settings box needs to be checked off as seen in the image there.

Meanwhile for the av program here hopefully the 2014 upgrade will clear some of the problems seen here at times where things are greyed out or some download link fails to work until disabling the av long enough to refresh a page and then starting the av program back up again without further problems during that Windows session. The web filtering seems a bit overprotective at times accounting for the small annoyance while the program has been great at finding and removing as well as prevention.

 

[Layback Bear]

The toughest program I ever had to remove was Webroot with SpySweeper. It took me forever and was in every thing.

 

[Night Hawk]

I ran into that one years back and went through all the motions. When taking a look at the shareware version I get the prompt telling me I needed to buy the full version in order to see some then imaginary? bugs removed that Lavasoft's adaware and other programs being looked at found nothing more then some tracking cookies..

One other suggestion for the OP here I should mention as a possible help would doing what was found to work with the IE 11 Preview now available. Some with banking and other problems tried making Compatibiliy view setting changes in order to get results. That can also effect previous IE versions at times as well.