Why can't I get Google to respond?

It’s because you’re using IE. Switch over to Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. Problem solved!

Install an operating system other than Windows 7 made by folks who do not have a vested interest in making their competitor’s search engine break when using their browser.

I suggest something like Ubuntu .

Oh come on guys.
Work requires IE for e-mail, price calculations over the net and backup of customer data. I have Firefox and Chrome installed but who wants to go switching browsers when IE is the default.

Any realistic suggestions when I am USING IE?

Well, I would switch browsers; that’s how much IE sucks, default or not. But really, if this is a problem at work, you should talk to IT. Any employer who insists on you using IE isn’t going to look kindly upon you trying to fix your own computer.

You could try changing your default search engine. Dogpile works pretty well for me on days when Google is laggy.

I think IT is still stuck in the 90’s. It is just galling to have to switch browsers to do a Google search. I agree the IE is inferior to Chrome and I use Chrome at all other times but when you are using one browser your natural instinct is to hit the Google bookmark and perform the search. This is really getting to be a pain in the a**.

Thanks

You can try to click the compatability button in IE, I think it is next to the refresh button on the command line. Sometimes it works.

Some possibilities that come to mind

- Have you shut down the browser and restarted it? A javascript error on google could be causing problems but closing all your windows and trying again with a hard refresh (shift-F5) would clear up that possibility

- IE9 allows for a lot of addons to be installed, some that aren’t immediately obvious – go to Tools -> Manage Add-Ons and look at all that garbage that gets installed with every type of software you put on the computer. Are any of those recent? Disable anything you don’t use and try again.

- IE9 has a lot more developer related features built in, you can throw it into different modes to try and figure out what older versions are screwing up for instance. Maybe you hit some key combination that has activated one of those modes? You can reset the options to default all at once or go through your current options at Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced tab

- There’s always the chance for malware/adware/virus that targets IE, can you run a scan with your tools of choice?

- Run your Windows Updates if you haven’t in a while… there’s still a lot of interdependence in Windows and IE even if they’re separate products now

- if it’s a work computer on a work network, I guess it could be a result of IT policy, although I don’t know why they’d let you get to google but not click the links, I suppose it would be possible to set up, might be worth asking someone if they’re having the same issue within the organization

Yes, I sometimes get a message when in Google products about turning off IE’s compatibility function to make the Google product work better. Maybe that is your problem.

Does it happen even if you have one or two windows? As soon as I clsoe a window/tab or two, things start to work better.

@srmorgan I assume you already tried clearing the history and deleting your cookies.
Also how long has it been since you defragged the drives?

My suggestion would be to download Mozilla Firefox as quickly as you can.

It would be an easly solution on the home front to change, but it is very different in a corporate world. You are set with what OS and configuration has been tested and supported for all the business needs. Changing is something you simply can’t do so easy.
IE may be the only browser certified and approved for certain applications so a switch to something else is not so simple a solution. There are more business applications that will not run correctly on FireFox and Chrome than Internet Exploder

Anyway, in IE go to tools manage add-ons and disable them all ..and if this works then put 1 back on at a time untill you find the 1

I hate to break it to you @srmorgan, but it’s not a joke. Microsoft has a search engine they call “Bing”. In classic Microsoft style they have made it just integral enough with their browser to cause annoying results when you use other search engines under IE in order to drive you to their product.

This is why folks like me refer to Microsoft as “The evil empire”.