IE7 cannot recognize WORD documents!!

Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can only
download them (and open them locally). They are associated correctly in
"folder options" and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer works
perfectly - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have already).
This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method of
persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be that
badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7 do
this, when none of its predecessors did??

"ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A22CEB74-C157-4B0A-8001-1040CCCA601F@microsoft.com...
> Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
> websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can
> only
> download them (and open them locally). They are associated correctly in
> "folder options" and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer
> works
> perfectly - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
> can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have
> already).
> This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method
> of
> persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be
> that
> badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7
> do
> this, when none of its predecessors did??

Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
Web pages, including HijackThis.
Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing programs like Messenger Plus,
whose ads for malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince
you that you owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

--
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
Do not reply with email

Thanks for the thought - but I have strong malware protection including
AdAware and SpyBot resident. I ran a couple of the others you suggested, but
no trace of malware problems of any significance. Looking back through other
posts on this forum, I've come across others with the same problem. Reading
between the lines, the response to them has been on the lines of - "don't
know why it happens - probably just some odd combination of software - the
workaround is to download instead of opening". I suspect that the only
"Malware" involved is IE7 (since none of Firefox, Safari and Oasis suffer
from this "feature").

If anyone has a more definitive suggestion to correct the fault, I'd like to
hear it (in the meantime I've switched to Firefox as my default browser,
which solves the problem).

"Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM" wrote:

> "ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A22CEB74-C157-4B0A-8001-1040CCCA601F@microsoft.com...
> > Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
> > websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can
> > only
> > download them (and open them locally). They are associated correctly in
> > "folder options" and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer
> > works
> > perfectly - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
> > can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have
> > already).
> > This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method
> > of
> > persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be
> > that
> > badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7
> > do
> > this, when none of its predecessors did??
>
> Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
> Web pages, including HijackThis.
> Help with malware:
> All MS-MVP Sites.
> http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
> http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
> http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
> http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
> http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
>
> Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315
>
> So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
> For quite a few people it's by installing programs like Messenger Plus,
> whose ads for malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince
> you that you owe it to the author. See also:
> http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
> Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
> what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
> of.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
> Do not reply with email
>
>

"ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A22CEB74-C157-4B0A-8001-1040CCCA601F@microsoft.com...
> Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
> websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can only
> download them (and open them locally).

> They are associated correctly in "folder options"
> and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer works perfectly


Which may only matter if you are using a security option which forces that. ; )



> - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
> can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have already).
> This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method of
> persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be that
> badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7 do
> this, when none of its predecessors did??


If you need more help post an example publicly accessible URL
which demonstrates your symptom.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

Hi. Not sure what you mean by "Which may only matter if you are using a
security option which forces that. " - but, as far as I'm aware, I'm not!

I've loaded onto http://www.ijames.co.uk/DocNotRecognized.htm a series of 3
screen shots showing what happens when I click on a link ("Press release") to
a Word document. As you'll see from the 3rd image, it actually starts
downloading it (to a temporary location, I assume, as is normal in order to
display it) but then immediately stops, apparently because it can't recognize
the program associated with the file. As a matter of interest - you'll see a
second link on the first image, to "Bulletin October 2008". This is a PDF
document. If I click on that link, it displays OK (using Acrobat). So, I'm
starting to think this problem is not wholely intrinsic to IE7, but is
something particularly to do with the .doc file association (although, as
I've mentioned, the automatic file association works fine from anywhere other
than IE7, including other MS products such as Explorer.exe and other browsers
such as Firefox).

"Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:

>
> "ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A22CEB74-C157-4B0A-8001-1040CCCA601F@microsoft.com...
> > Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
> > websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can only
> > download them (and open them locally).
>
> > They are associated correctly in "folder options"
> > and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer works perfectly
>
>
> Which may only matter if you are using a security option which forces that. ; )
>
>
>
> > - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
> > can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have already).
> > This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method of
> > persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be that
> > badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7 do
> > this, when none of its predecessors did??
>
>
> If you need more help post an example publicly accessible URL
> which demonstrates your symptom.
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert Aldwinckle
> ---
>
>
>

http://www.chislehurstrotaryclub.org...ksreport08.doc
"ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:541F8B41-11F1-40CD-84D6-883E8E86D86D@microsoft.com...
> Hi. Not sure what you mean by "Which may only matter if you are using a
> security option which forces that. " - but, as far as I'm aware, I'm not!
>
> I've loaded onto http://www.ijames.co.uk/DocNotRecognized.htm a series of 3
> screen shots showing what happens when I click on a link ("Press release") to
> a Word document. As you'll see from the 3rd image, it actually starts
> downloading it (to a temporary location, I assume, as is normal in order to
> display it) but then immediately stops, apparently because it can't recognize
> the program associated with the file.

> As a matter of interest - you'll see a
> second link on the first image, to "Bulletin October 2008". This is a PDF
> document. If I click on that link, it displays OK (using Acrobat). So, I'm
> starting to think this problem is not wholely intrinsic to IE7, but is

> something particularly to do with the .doc file association (although, as
> I've mentioned, the automatic file association works fine from anywhere other
> than IE7, including other MS products such as Explorer.exe and other browsers
> such as Firefox).


That site is not giving you such a direct association
so even if you do use the security option which forces it
it probably won't work...

Here's what Fiddler2 sees (besides the Content-Length header):

<Fiddler>
Content-Type: application/msword
</Fiddler>

So, no .doc filename extension then.

BTW I'm getting another checkbox on that File Download dialog
Always ask before opening this type of file

But that may be because I have
Confirm open after download
checked in the
Edit File Type
dialog for
Microsoft Word Document
(extension DOC)
in
Folder Options
which I opened by Run... (e.g. press Win-R and enter)
control folders

Otherwise I can imagine seeing exactly the same sequence
that you got.


HTH

Robert
---


>
> "Robert Aldwinckle" wrote:
>
>>
>> "ianggjames" <ianggjames@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A22CEB74-C157-4B0A-8001-1040CCCA601F@microsoft.com...
>> > Since installing IE7, I've been unable to open Word (.doc) documents on
>> > websites. It says they are an "Unknown file type"!! As a result, I can only
>> > download them (and open them locally).
>>
>> > They are associated correctly in "folder options"
>> > and clicking on a .doc extension in Windows Explorer works perfectly
>>
>>
>> Which may only matter if you are using a security option which forces that. ; )
>>
>>
>>
>> > - but all that IE7 does is direct me to a Microsoft site where I
>> > can buy the latest version of Word (2007 - which is the one I have already).
>> > This seems to be an excessive and highly irregular (if not illegal) method of
>> > persuading people to buy newer MS products. Surely MicroSoft cannot be that
>> > badly off? Is there some way of stopping this nonsense? And why does IE7 do
>> > this, when none of its predecessors did??
>>
>>
>> If you need more help post an example publicly accessible URL
>> which demonstrates your symptom.
>>
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Robert Aldwinckle
>> ---
>>
>>
>>

Intriguing - particularly as this is my own website! I was thinking that it
was possibly a Word 2007 problem (as I've very recently upgraded to 2007) -
and that Word was, in some way, not identifying its documents correctly on
output. However, that would not explain why Firefox, Oasis and Safari can
all pick up the association perfectly and open the document. It would also
not explain why Word 2003 files, some of which are on the same webpage
further down and which used to open perfectly in IE6, now do not open in IE7.

So, I'm back to where I started. It's quite obviously an IE7 bug. As a
webmaster, I find this extremely serious and worrying. The vast majority of
people reading my websites will be using IE - and most of them will by now,
or within a few months, all be on IE7. Unless Microsoft can fix the bug; or
there's an easy work-around, it means I have to stop using Word documents on
any of the websites I maintain - and revert to .pdf or whatever. In the
meantime, I'll try some alternatives, such as .rtf; to see if I can find a
workaround.

There are times I could get to really dislike Microsoft!!

Thanks for trying, anyway.