Internet Icon won't open in Control Panel (Win 7)

Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
Greetings All,

My brother is running windows 7, Using Firefox and never Windows explorer, office 2010 i believe, 3.0ghz, 100+gb hd, plenty of ram, etc....

The 2 problems he called me about are as follows.
1) In "control panel" he attempted to open "internet options/settings/etc" (or similar) and when he clicked on the icon for same, it did not open. I remotely accessed his computer and found his description to be accurate......The icon is NOT "grayed out" or anything like that......I told him to reboot into safe mode with networking and the icon was gone from control panel altogether. What gives about this?

2) He has "Private Firewall" installed and when i hit it to open the interface containing the settings, i get a blank square for that program where the settings should be displayed but, nothing seen or accessible. I reinstalled the program and even did it's most recent update (no longer supported the web site tells me) and the results are the same.

I/we haven't done a virus scan yet but, let's ASSUME that none exists....ANYONE?....Thanks ahead of time for any assistance.
 
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johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
What happens when he opens IE and goes to internet options in there as well? It's the same in both places.

Probably gonna have to do a sfc /scannow at an elevated command prompt to scan for missing or corrupted windows files.
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
johnb35 said:
What happens when he opens IE and goes to internet options in there as well? It's the same in both places.

Probably gonna have to do a sfc /scannow at an elevated command prompt to scan for missing or corrupted windows files.
Click to expand...

********************************

Thanks for the reply!..I had to edit my initial post to indicate that he is using Mozilla FIREFOX and he, as well as myself, never use internet explorer....I had read in my initial research about the control panel issue that, someone else had the same problem and did what you suggested and with no results.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
When did the problem with control panel start? He may be able to do a system restore back to a day it was working. Other than doing the sfc /scannnow command which doesn't work the same for everyone, you won't know if it doesn't work until you try it. Doesn't matter what browser he uses. If you access internet options in control panel or under the tools menu in IE, its still takes you to the same place.
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
**NOTE - CAPS ARE NOT YELLING BUT, ONLY SERVE TO SEGREGATE PORTIONS OF THE CONVERSATION!

When did the problem with control panel start?
HE ONLY NOTICED IT TODAY.

He may be able to do a system restore back to a day it was working.
HE DOESN'T KNOW AT WHAT POINT IT WAS "DEFECTIVE"....I WON'T RISK A SYSTEM RESTORE AT THIS TIME.....THE MOST RECENT BACK UP WAS THE ONE I DID PRIOR TO HIS NEW NEW PROFILE BEING SET UP AND I AM NOT SURE IF ANY EXIST PRIOR TO THAT AS I SIMPLY DO NOT RECALL..... HE CALLED ME THE OTHER DAY AND SAID HE HAD A PROBLEM WITH OFFICE 2010 - GETTING AND RECEIVING MAIL...I SET HIM UP WITH ANOTHER "USER PROFILE" WHICH IN TURN RE-DOWNLOADED A FEW THOUSAND E-MAILS BACK ONTO HIS COMPUTER AND EVERYTHING APPEARED TO BE WORKING FINE.

Other than doing the sfc /scannnow command which doesn't work the same for everyone, you won't know if it doesn't work until you try it.
WHILE I FEEL THIS WOULD BE A WASTE OF TIME, I WILL SUGGEST IT TO HIM AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR. HE WILL BE VISITING RELATIVES TILL THEN.

Doesn't matter what browser he uses.
OK

If you access internet options in control panel or under the tools menu in IE, its still takes you to the same place.
OK...I AM NOT SAVVY WITH MOST ANYTHING PAST WIN XP AND REFUSE TO ACQUIRE THAT OR USE THAT OPERATING SYSTEM.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Do you know the difference between a system restore and system backup that you create yourself? If the issue appeared within the last few days and system restore is on then you can restore the system to a few days ago prior to the issue starting providing a system restore point was created in the last few days.

I'm not sure how XP got involved in the conversation, but this has nothing to do with XP. I'm on windows 10 and you can access internet options via control panel or in IE. I just wanted to know if it would open when in Internet Explorer.

Actually may sound like there is a malware infection, might want to scan with malwarebytes. Can it be accessed when booting to safe mode? Internet options is actually part of IE anyway. So either Internet Explorer is corrupt or he has a malware infection. Did he try removing IE from the system? Since IE is integrated into the system, issues will arise from trying to remove it.
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
Do you know the difference between a system restore and system backup that you create yourself?
OF COURSE!

If the issue appeared within the last few days and system restore is on then you can restore the system to a few days ago prior to the issue starting providing a system restore point was created in the last few days.
YES, AGAIN, I KNOW THAT AND AS I SAID BEFORE, I DID A RESTORE POINT BEFORE I GOT HIM UP AND RUNNING THE OTHER DAY SO I N CASE I SCREWED SOMETHING UP.

I'm not sure how XP got involved in the conversation, but this has nothing to do with XP.
IT GOT INVOLVED WITH ME ATTEMPTING TO INDICATE THAT I DO NOT USE WIN 10 AND ONLY USE XP AND THAT I AM NOT SAVVY WITH WIN 10, THAT'S HOW IT "GOT INVOLVED".

I'm on windows 10 and you can access internet options via control panel or in IE. I just wanted to know if it would open when in Internet Explorer.
CAN AND DID OPEN CONTROL PANEL USING SAME BUT IN **ALL** CASES, THE ICON DID NOTHING WHEN CLICKED ON.

Actually may sound like there is a malware infection, might want to scan with malwarebytes.
I DO HAVE MALWAREBYTES INSTALLED ON HIS COMPUTER BUT, NOT MUCH CAN BE DONE UNTIL AFTER THE 1ST OF THE YEAR AS ALSO PREVIOUSLY STATED.

Can it be accessed when booting to safe mode?
I ALSO STATED AND ADDRESSED THAT IN MY AFOREMENTIONED POSTS. "NO - ICON GONE IN SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING".

Internet options is actually part of IE anyway. So either Internet Explorer is corrupt or he has a malware infection. Did he try removing IE from the system? Since IE is integrated into the system, issues will arise from trying to remove it.
NO, WE/HE DID NOT TRY ANYTHING WITH INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER.
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
UPDATES:

This afternoon, my brother attempted to run "sfc /scannnow etc etc etc" and the program found a few errors and corrected them. HOWEVER, the issue still exists, that being when he (or I via computer access) attempted to click on or right click on and open "internet options" in the computer, it simply does NOTHING. Any more suggestions short of reinstalling internet explorer?
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
It's been over 3 weeks and you haven't expended the effort to reinstall Internet Explorer?
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
If you can or did re-read my first few posts before you posted this to which I am responding to, you would have obtained information indicating that my brother was out of state and NOT HOME for an extended period of time and just the other day returned home. Re-installing IE is not possible as disc (cd) is not present. Therefore, whatever effort that could be made the soonest has already transpired and taken place.
 
voyagerfan99

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
You don't need a disc to reinstall IE. You can just remove the latest version as an installed update, and then download IE 11 for Windows 7.
 
Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
**NOTE; CAPS ARE NOT YELLING BUT, ONLY SERVE TO SEPARATE SECTIONS OF THE CONVERSATION**

I would suggest uninstalling private firewall,
HAVE DONE THAT TO NO AVAIL

reboot system
HAVE DONE THAT

and see if it opens.
DOES NOT OPEN

If not, its possible there is malware on the system and it needs to be scanned.
I "THINK" HE HAS DONE THAT BUT, WILL HAVE TO RE-CHECK TO RULE THAT OUT. I WILL HAVE HIM RUN HIS ANTI VIRUS AND ANTI-MALWARE BYTES AND REPORT BACK AS SOON AS I GET RESULTS.
 
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johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Da Mail Man said:
**NOTE; CAPS ARE NOT YELLING BUT, ONLY SERVE TO SEPARATE SECTIONS OF THE CONVERSATION**
Click to expand...

You might want to learn how to reply/quote parts of someone's post instead of capitalizing and changing font colors to separate sections of conversation. All you need to do is highlight a section of what you want to reply to and then you'll see the reply option appear. You click that it will automatically appear in your reply. Then you can highlight another section and reply to that.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Da Mail Man said:
I could but....it wouldn't change the content of the text...thanks.
Click to expand...
But that the whole point of replying/quoting someone, to separate how you want to reply to someone's post. I can either reply to your whole last post which I just did or reply to each separate part of your 1 line post like this.

Da Mail Man said:
I could but
Click to expand...
yes you could
Da Mail Man said:
it wouldn't change the content of the text
Click to expand...
yes it would
Da Mail Man said:
thanks.
Click to expand...
welcome

Doesn't that do the same thing you do? It sure does.
 
A

aldan

Active Member
johnb35 said:
You might want to learn how to reply/quote parts of someone's post instead of capitalizing and changing font colors to separate sections of conversation. All you need to do is highlight a section of what you want to reply to and then you'll see the reply option appear. You click that it will automatically appear in your reply. Then you can highlight another section and reply to that.
Click to expand...
yeah,its really irritating to read those posts.
 
P

_Pete_

Active Member
And in no way conducive in making people want to help the OP. I also sense a beligerent style which, also does not help.
 
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