Yellow Information bar does not pop up

OK I'm just about pulling my hair out ready to throw computer out window. So I thought I would ask you guys as you are the smartest bunch I know!

One of the websites I frequent is saying I need to click on the yellow information bar to activate their printer. I don't get an information bar. I have recently performed clean with ccleaner. I'm pretty good with computers and don't get rid of anything without checking it out first so I cannot imagine I deleted anything important. I have checked in my internet settings which are set to medium and activeX controls are set to prompt.

I run AVG and it hasn't given me warning messages or anything.

Can anybody tell me if this is just a setting I need to change? Thanks.

 

Assuming that you are using Internet Explorer, you should make sure the settings in Internet Options are set to allow ActiveX scripts.
Under the "Security" tab:
http://ioniafirst.com/activex.jpg
and
http://ioniafirst.com/activex2.jpg

 

I can fully understand Plodr's reluctance to allow scripting.
Scripting was first introduced in WIN 98 (I believe) and it has since been deprecated by MS in favor of its .NET programing.

Sadly the net has become rife with malicious programs that take advantage of any avenue that allows outsiders to access any portion of your computer.

There are however, many websites that still rely on this dated approach.
I agree that you should set your activex controls to prompt you before allowing them scripting rights.
This way offers you the option of allowing trusted websites to function as they were intended.

 

Joelsz - Thank you, I have checked settings and they are exactly like you have said.

Plodr - the website I am trying to use is smartsource.com. It is an online grocery coupon printing site. (I only use two of these services because usually they are spyware-filled sites).

They have to install thier "coupon printer" on the computer. I have a very updated avg and have run spybot right after installing printer before and nothing came up. However, most recently I have run ccleaner to clean computer out (I usually do this monthly) and appears I have wiped something out that will not let the information bar come up for this site. I does, however come up for other sites. Not really a big deal. I don't have to print from this site anymore. I just thought if there was an easy setting to change I would try it.

Thanks!

 

You can try to go back to a restore point before the problem first occurred.

Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.
Choose: "Restore My Computer to an Earlier Time".
This should show you a calendar with some of the dates bolded.
Choose one that was before your problem began.
This should reset your computer to that earlier state.
You will not lose any data files by doing this, but any programs that you have loaded since that date will no longer function and you will have to reinstall them to use them.
This process is completely reversable.

 

Thanks for the information. I switched to FF also and it worked fine, except some of the coupons that are in IE are not in FF now. Bizarre! dosn't matter really. I guess I didn't realize FF doesn't have ActiveX. Must be why it works there. I will check javascript settings just to see what is there.

about the adware allowing pop ups. Wonder if that is what happened. Shortly after I downloaded the coupon printer I had run my spyware and ccleaner programs and had them take out somet things out of registry. I hate adware (usually) and don't want pop ups allowed on computer either.

Thanks for the advice!

 

There are many very basic differences between IE and other browsers.
I wrote a website for my church using a MS utility that gave a perfect website - as long as the visitor used IE.
Firefox, Netscape and Opera couldn't interpret the code correctly and the site is totally useless in those browsers.
I corrected the problem by writing a second set of webpages specifically for non-IE browsers, with a link on the main page for those who used these.
Even so there are some features of the site that simply don't work with FF et al.
(Some HTML codes are only supported in IE. <bgsound> being one othem.)

 

Wow, I did not know that. Now I understand why I can see one page in IE fine but in FF not so good. Mostly it works fine but sometimes...

I didn't mean to ignore you on your previous post. I am trying to figure out exactly when I started having this problem. I don't use it that much so it has been a while now. I'm not sure what I loaded on my computer since then (don't think it was much) but am going to do a search by date to see what is there and then see if I can go back! Thanks for the steps on how to do that, they will come in handy...

 

Hello!

I work at SmartSource and have passed this thread over to Support for review and hopefully some comment. In the meantime here are answers to some of the questions raised.

Why do we need to install a printer applet?
Printing coupons is like printing money and just like with currency fraud and counterfeiting occurs. It's not really consumers that cause concern; it is retailers. Retailers turn in that coupon for payment from the manufacturer. The receive the face value (the $1 or whatever) plus a handling fee. Unfortunately, some retailers cheat. They turn in coupons for items they never sold. Among other things, the printer control makes each document a unique piece of paper. So if that retailer tries to cheat by making a bunch of photocopies we'll know. It's just like buying concert tickets online.

It also prevents a specific device from printing out the coupon more than a set number of times. And that may explain the missing coupons in the switch from IE to FF. Once that print limit is reached it disappears to THAT user, as occurred to lsdientz.

As to malware, spyware, etc. We do NOTHING of the sort. However, because we DO use those techniques to prevent multiple prints some security software may report that as suspicious activity. SmartSource is part of News Corporation and you can IMAGINE the public scandal (and associated mass firings) if anything like that were to occur.

Thank you for using our program!

 

I appreciate your passing it on. I can print these in firefox so I have been just using that program if I need to go on your site. However, it still won't come up in ie. If the problem ever gets fixed, let me know. Otherwise, thanks for answering!