Internet Explorer
All versions of Windows come with a browser called Internet Explorer. There are a lot of other browsers available, but none of them come with Windows. There are Netscape, Opera & Mozilla to name a few. And don't forget my favorite, Firefox!
There are still a lot of users that are still using Internet Explorer 6. If you are one of them, upgrade your Internet Explorer to IE 8. IE 6 is no longer supported by Microsoft and it is chock-a-block full of security holes that won't ever be fixed.
Because Internet Explorer comes with Windows, the majority of Windows users use Internet Explorer. MSN is a 'dumbed down' version of Internet Explorer. Even AOL users are using a customized version of IE. (Dumbed down as well, though) I hear the latest version of AOL is based on Netscape, but since I don't use AOL, I don't really know.
As everyone who has used a computer for any length of time knows, software can develop problems and Internet Explorer (henceforth called IE) is no exception. I will attempt to describe & provide fixes for just a few of those problems.
'Internet Explorer has caused a fatal exception error and will shut down.'
This may not be the exact wording of what you get, but something very similar. This is very frustrating and can be difficult to troubleshoot. The first thing to try is 'Repair'. This is done by opening the Control Panel and selecting Add/Remove Programs. Then look for 'Microsoft Internet Explorer', select & click on it. If you are lucky, it will be listed and you will be given the option to repair IE. This works sometimes.
If this doesn't work or it is not listed, then the fun begins. A lot of folks will tell you to upgrade your IE. In my experience, upgrading over a problem seldom works. There are some users who say this fixed the problem, so if you want to try upgrading , go for it. It may work for you.
If you are using Windows Me or Windows XP, you can try to fix the problem by using 'System Restore'. You just restore your system to a date when you were not having the problem. System Restore does not always work. If you are using Windows 98 or 98 SE you can try to fix the problem using 'System File Checker' (SFC). SFC can identify files that have changed since Windows was installed, but it can be challenging to identify the files causing the problem.
Microsoft has a humongous website devoted to fixing problems. Unfortunately, it is so big it is hard to find what you are looking for. It takes a lot of time & patience searching for solutions to problems. But stay with it, you can generally find the correct solution if you stay with it. (You will also learn about a lot of other problems if you read the articles that come up during your searches.) Once you locate a solution, I suggest you bookmark it so you can find it again. This ensures you won't need that page again. (Snicker)
Everyone finds pictures on the Internet they would like to save to their computer, Usually these pictures are in one of three formats, .jpeg, .gif or .bmp. Sometimes though, when you try to save a picture that is in .jpeg or .gif, you only get the option to save the picture as .bmp. So what is going on? Strange as it may seem, deleting your Temporary Internet files will probably fix the problem. Microsoft is aware of the problem and has an article detailing the fix.
Just for fun and an interesting read, The History of Internet Explorer.