No address bar (1 Viewer)

When I turned on the cp this a.m. and went to IE (6) I see that I had no address bar or any of my normal links on top. A check of the tool bar under "view" shows them all checked. I thought there was something wrong with I.E. but tonight I see I am still w/o my address bar. Any clues?

At first I was gonna say to right click on the toolbars (if there are any) and check to make sure that Address bar is ticked. Of course, if there's a pop-up, sometimes pop-ups are programmed to not have an address bar.

Unfortunately, I rarely use IE anymore, due to the outrageous number of pop-ups even though I have pop-up blockers installed and configured for IE. The only solution would be to use Netscape, which has a built-in pop-up blocker, and I never get a single pop-up.

As for trying to get the address bar back: try going to Tools >> Internet Options, and click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down about 2/3rds and you should find a section called "Search from the address bar". Dot the last choise for that section. I'm not positive this will work, but it might bring back the address bar (as choosing this option is the only way to navigate from site to site).

Try it, if it don't work, let me know!

Actually, I never thought about using system restore, so I tried it for the first time a few minutes ago and restored it back to yesterday and everything is back to normal. Phew! Thanks for taking a look though.

Eh, no problem. You have Windows XP??? As WinXP is the only Windows with System Restore...

yeah, that's a thought too. sometimes, unchecking Lock Toolbars makes the toolbar so small and out of sight on the right-hand side of the toolbar area, that even I think it's gone. Well, that was before I switched to Netscape!

Hi Andy. Yes, tool bar was locked and everything checked, that's why I could not figure out what went wrong. System restore to yesterday brought everything back thank God. I just don't know what happened. Gonna keep an eye on it though cause when I opened up another window before the restore, I watched the back button literally pop out of it's spot and go to the right of the fwd arrow instead of its usual spot to the extreme left. Weird stuff.

um, KC, activity like that should be considered suspicious (IMO) and should warrant a virus check. Also try to run spyware fighting software, such as Spybot: Search and Destroy (I think you can find it on Download.com)

KCFoggin said:

Actually, I never thought about using system restore, so I tried it for the first time a few minutes ago and restored it back to yesterday and everything is back to normal. Phew! Thanks for taking a look though.

Click to expand...

How did you do that as I have the same problem as you.

Reader, it's very simple: GO to Start >> All Programs >> Accesories >> System Tools >> System Restore. Keep in mind that in order for System Restore to "fix" a problem, you have to create what Microsoft calls a "checkpoint" if you created a checkpoint before the problem occurred, you will be fine. If you create one after the problem arose, well, I can't help you there... unless you can try to go back through what you did the day you discovered the problem...

Reader said:

How did you do that as I have the same problem as you.

Click to expand...

Did your problem happen in the last day or two? The only thing I can think of that might have set something off was that Norton Firewall did an auto update just before I shut down last and it took longer than usual.

Hi KC,

Did you try F11 before heading for System Restore?

Regards,

Andy.

Hey Andy! Good to hear from you.

I did in fact, hit F11 but that wasn't it. I had the back, forward, stop load and refresh and that was it. The rest of the icons and the address bar went missing.

OK, KC.

Here's what I believe your problem is (was).

Somehow, you set the positions of the toolbars such that the address bar appeared to the extreme right-hand side of the window. In fact, I just tested this theory out on my comp, and what d'ya know, it looks like it disappeared!

Here's where you might have left it:

KCFoggin said:

Did your problem happen in the last day or two? The only thing I can think of that might have set something off was that Norton Firewall did an auto update just before I shut down last and it took longer than usual.

Click to expand...

It happened over a week ago. I can't recall any reason why it sould have happened.

If I do do that System Restore to go back to when the address bar eventually comes up will I lose anything I have saved in the process?

gthang said:

OK, KC.

Here's what I believe your problem is (was).

Somehow, you set the positions of the toolbars such that the address bar appeared to the extreme right-hand side of the window. In fact, I just tested this theory out on my comp, and what d'ya know, it looks like it disappeared!

Here's where you might have left it:

Click to expand...

Nope, everything from the home icon was obliterated with no links on the right side at all. Separator bars were all there but no other icons or address bar.

Reader said:

It happened over a week ago. I can't recall any reason why it sould have happened.

If I do do that System Restore to go back to when the address bar eventually comes up will I lose anything I have saved in the process?

Click to expand...

Hi Reader! No, not with XP you won't. Not even emails. It really is quite simple and the program walks you right through it. It took all of maybe 10 minutes.

Hi KC,

It's good to spend some time here again!

"Toolbars missing in IE
First, press F11 to make sure you're not in full screen mode.

If that doesn't work, right click the toolbar/s you have and make sure all options are enabled.

If that doesn't work, try sliding around the toolbars you have to see if the missing one is 'stuck behind' (make sure your toolbars are unlocked in later versions of IE)

Deleting the following registry key may help as a last resort:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser

If you own an HP computer, use MSCONFIG (startup tab) to disable the HP utility 'autokit.exe'. If you are using XP you may need to download a 'fix' from HP, available at:

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Customized View Settings on the Internet Explorer Toolbar Revert to Default Settings After Restarting the Computer
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00059793&dlc=en&lang=en "

From http://inetexplorer.mvps.org

Cheers,

Andy.

This sounds like a quick fix -

"Did you ever get your Toolbars in IE set just right only to reboot and you lose your settings? Many times when Toolbars are added or removed the Registry entry that controls these settings does not get updated or has become corrupt. You can download a small reg file to reset (to default) and correct this behavior.

Download: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/ResetBrowserToolbar.reg [right-click and select: "Save Target As"
To use: right-click and select: Merge - Ok the prompt and reboot."

From http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/ietips.htm

Maybe worth downloading ready for next time?

Andy.

I have used System Restore only sparingly, so It's been a while since I've actually used it. System restore should only keep an image of the hard disk's system files and device driver files. This is because most problems are with hardware, and SR might also image the important Windows files, and Program Files.

So to recap for users just starting to read this thread, System Restore is a Windows application found only in Windows XP. To access it, Open the All Programs menu in the Start bar. Point to Accessories, then to System Tools, and then click on System Restore to access this program.

When the System Restore application opens, you are presented with the 1st screen below. If you notice, there are two options for you to choose: to restore to an earlier point, or to create a restore point.

The second picture shows what you should do to guarantee that you have at least one prior restore point. On the System Restore screen, click the options link on the left side of the window. Make sure the checkbox for "Turn Off System Restore" is unchecked.

The third picture shows your screen if you choose to Restore to an earlier point. The program prompts you to select a bold date. In my picture, you can see that there are almost 17 days of restore points, the most recent non-restore points being the 14th and 15th (I had just started a job). Select a restore point and click next.

The last picture shows your screen if you choose to create a restore point. This option is useful if you have SR disabled, or if you want to create an emergency restore point before installing something. XP automatically creates a system restore point if you are installing a device that has not passed Microsoft's Device lab tests. Xp also automaticaly creates a system restore point if you have SR turned on. Unless it's a real emergency, or if you have SR off, there no real need to use the Create a Restore Point option.

If anyone has any other questions about System Restore, feel free to ask.

NOTICE: I'm having trouble uploading the other two images, there might be a problem with the browser or the site. Please be patient while I get the other two up.

EDIT: I had posted this reply because the Manage Attachments dialog was taking far too long to uplaod a 100KB file. So I submited the reply, then went to edit and I got a Blue Screen of Death. The computer restarted and now I have uploaded the final two images.

Windows XP is nothing but trouble.

I have Opera as a back up browser. A free version with banner ads is available.