Emails will not open in Hotmail IE8

Greetings all,
Got a strange one I can't seem to figure out. My wife has a Toshiba Netbook running Win7 with IE 8. Yesterday as she does everyday, she logged into her Hotmail, seen her new email but when she clicks on an available email, nothing happens.
Here is what I have checked so far:
1.) Cleared cookies and temp internet files
2.) Reset Internet Explorer
3.) Checked advanced settings under browser settings and made sure it was set to Automatic
4.) Opened up another hotmail account to see if it was account specific and could not open up emails in that account either.
5.) Opened Firefox on my linux machine and verified that I could open the emails under her hotmail account with no issue.

I have googled this issue but have not found the exact issue.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions, guidance, and help.

All the best,

Ian

 

Why not upgrade IE to version 9? If that doesn't work, what about installing Firefox on the wife's computer?

 

Well I suggested installing Firefox but upgrading to IE9 is also a good suggestion but still does not explain why all of a sudden those emails will not open.
She stated there were no updates performed so there really is no reason that I can come up with as to why the emails all of a sudden will not open. It's a strange one.

If it were up to me, I would slick the HDD and install Linux Mint :-D but when it comes to computers, my wife likes what she knows and that is Windows and Internet explorer.

All the best,

Ian

 

When I went digging, I found this as a solution. (it is a few months old but might be worth looking over).

 

Well, I wish I could offer a solution for IE8 but I have none. Did you try plodr's suggestion?

Upgrading to IE9 may not solve the problem either, but I suggest the upgrade anyway. IE9 was released in March 2011, so I'm surprised that upgrade hasn't already been done on her computer.

Of other browsers, Firefox is probably the easiest transition from IE.

Another option would be to install Windows Live Mail, the free email client from Microsoft and start using it for Hotmail instead of accessing Hotmail via web browser.

 

Thank you both for the advice. I had not read your responses until this morning.
Here is what I did last night. No, the problem is still not resolved but will be looking into both of your suggestions this evening.
Installed and ran MalwareBytes - found 3 occurances of Malware all in which were succesfully cleaned up.
Installed and ran CCleaner and performed a registry scan. Scan came back with multiple registry issues all in which were taken care of after selecting fix. 2nd scan of both came back clean. Also, scan with AVG ran clean.
I installed FF 7.0 - Just like in IE, I can get into her inbox but can not open up any mail.
Opened up hotmail with Google Chrome - Same as IE and FF.
She had not set up updates when I bought her the netbook so I took care of that last night and let it download and install all current updates. I went to bed because it was late so good chance the upgrade to IE 9 was included in those updates.
But to be honest with you, I would bet the bank the problem is not going away with the update to IE9.
This is a REALLY strange issue and you can imagine my surprise when I ran into the SAME issue in both FF and Chrome. :confused :confused :confused
Will look into the Windows Live Mail as a potential option vice going straight to the website.
@plodr - I would almost believe that could be a problem but this issue is only related to this netbook. I can access her email via my Linux laptop, my work laptop running Win7 as well as her desktop running Win7. It's only the netbook having this issue.

Again, thank you both for taking the time to dig and provide guidance.

All the best,

Ian

 

Open IE 9 on her desktop and her netbook then look over the settings. There might be something different selected causing the problem.
If you can get IE working then maybe the other two browsers will fall in line too. :-D

 

Wifey is now able to check her email. I believe the issue was when she installed AVG a few weeks back, there was still a trial of Norton on the netbook. Using the Norton Removal tool, I removed all evidence of Norton. Attempted to remove AVG and the uninstall failed so need to figure out now how to get AVG off the computer. Installed Comodo AV so at least she has some protection until I can figure this issue out.

Thank you for all of your feedback and guidance,

All the best,

Ian

 

I would have edited my last post but I see where the edit post is not there. Hmmm :confused

I found an AVG-2012 removal tool so that should fix that issue and all should be back to normal.
She now has Comodo AV as well as MalwareBytes installed on the netbook.

Thanks again for all of the feedback.

Ian

 

The Edit button only appears for about 10 minutes or so after you make a post.