O.T. Yahoo homepage

[Mark Twain]

I have a Dell XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1,
with Spywareblaster, Avast Professional, Windows Defender
and Windows firewall.

(1) TB HD
Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-33-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.40 GHz
Ram 12.0 GB
System type : 64-bit operating system


Not really a problem, but the last few days I've noticed that
on my Yahoo homepage, the ad appears at the top but none of
the stories below it have any images on them and a few below
that. If I close the Ad it doesn't affect them and they stay
blank.

I checked, and this doesn't happen on MSN so its seems a Yahoo
problem.

Robert

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 9 Sep 2015 01:40:09 -0700 (PDT), Mark Twain
> wrote:

>I have a Dell XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1,
>with Spywareblaster, Avast Professional, Windows Defender
>and Windows firewall.
>
>(1) TB HD
>Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-33-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.40 GHz
>Ram 12.0 GB
>System type : 64-bit operating system
>
>
>Not really a problem, but the last few days I've noticed that
>on my Yahoo homepage, the ad appears at the top but none of
>the stories below it have any images on them and a few below
>that. If I close the Ad it doesn't affect them and they stay
>blank.
>
>I checked, and this doesn't happen on MSN so its seems a Yahoo
>problem.
>
>Robert
>

I dont use any online page as my homepage. I created a HTM file which is
on my HDD, and it contains click on URL links to webpages I visit often,
and includes several search engines. That eliminates me having to be
stuck with one site, and eliminates the error messages if I open a
browser when I'm offline. I use that same HTM file on all browsers and
all my computers, regardless of browser or OS. It's just a list of URLs
for stuff like search engines, weather (at my home location), some
discussion groups I visit often, some sites that I visit often or those
of personal friends, and so on. It's not hard to make one. I added a
nice background and a few pictures to make it look nice.

Yahoo may be screwed up. That would not surprise me any! I recall some
years ago when Google was all screwed up for a half day or so. Why dont
you use an ad blocker?



>

[Paul]

Mark Twain wrote:
> I have a Dell XPS 8500, with Windows 7 Professional, SP1,
> with Spywareblaster, Avast Professional, Windows Defender
> and Windows firewall.
>
> (1) TB HD
> Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-33-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 3.40 GHz
> Ram 12.0 GB
> System type : 64-bit operating system
>
>
> Not really a problem, but the last few days I've noticed that
> on my Yahoo homepage, the ad appears at the top but none of
> the stories below it have any images on them and a few below
> that. If I close the Ad it doesn't affect them and they stay
> blank.
>
> I checked, and this doesn't happen on MSN so its seems a Yahoo
> problem.
>
> Robert

So the advert is probably not delivered by Yahoo, but
delivered by someone else.

Does the advert "look like it belongs there" ?

Or is the advert out of proportion, overlaying other
graphic elements on the page. An interloper...

I suspect something got to the browser, and is
now affecting the appearance of the Yahoo page
(and preventing the video player wrappers from
getting triggered properly as you scroll down).

*******

Like a lot of problems, the solutions involve
potential compromises. I was just thinking about
what mechanisms might work.

One thing I was thinking about, was isolating the
browser from the rest of your OS. For example, this
German company offers "browser in a box". It's a
browser hosted in a Linux OS, which in turn is hosted
by a copy of VirtualBox. So the idea is, as you're surfing
using the copy of Firefox inside that VirtualBox thing,
it can't affect your regular OS.

(Requires you to fill out an identification page, so
I did not bother to complete the download...)

http://download.sirrix.com/content/pages/bbdl.htm

But the compromise is, what happens to the bookmarks ?
Can the bookmarks be stored on the regular OS ?

What if the browser needs a new version of Flash ? Will
the user understand how to get Flash in there ?

So on the one hand

1) It's a solution that claims to work by downloading
and running one file. The solution provides a level
of isolation between the browser and the regular OS.

2) But, sooner or later, it's going to need maintenance,
and now the maintenance is more difficult to do. And
we certainly don't want to download that software product
over and over again, to keep it updated that way.

*******

The other idea that comes to mind:

The bloody browser company should make a browser that works.

Now, that's an innovative idea whose time has come.

Instead of making new GUIs, internal debuggers, memory
measurement tools, maybe they could put the energy into
making a secure browser that does the same thing from
one day to the next ???

I can only repeat cleaning recipes so many times,
before I get frustrated. Cleaning is not the answer
(obviously). Better designed browsers is the right answer.

And equally obviously, web browser standards are too
permissive, allow too much manipulation of the computer
hosting the browser. Why doesn't the industry realize this,
and "lock down" the interface, instead of adding yet more
whizzy crap to it ?

Paul

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 09 Sep 2015 06:30:36 -0400, Paul > wrote:

>The other idea that comes to mind:
>
> The bloody browser company should make a browser that works.
>
>Now, that's an innovative idea whose time has come.
>
>Instead of making new GUIs, internal debuggers, memory
>measurement tools, maybe they could put the energy into
>making a secure browser that does the same thing from
>one day to the next ???
>
>I can only repeat cleaning recipes so many times,
>before I get frustrated. Cleaning is not the answer
>(obviously). Better designed browsers is the right answer.
>
>And equally obviously, web browser standards are too
>permissive, allow too much manipulation of the computer
>hosting the browser. Why doesn't the industry realize this,
>and "lock down" the interface, instead of adding yet more
>whizzy crap to it ?
>
> Paul

I wish someone would make a web browser that would just view the text
and pictures on a page and eliminate all the scripts, CSS, flash and
other manipulative crap. If someone wants to view a video, they have to
click on it and it will open in another tab without a lot more junk on
the page.

[Bob F[_2_]]

wrote:
> On Wed, 09 Sep 2015 06:30:36 -0400, Paul > wrote:
>
>> The other idea that comes to mind:
>>
>> The bloody browser company should make a browser that works.
>>
>> Now, that's an innovative idea whose time has come.
>>
>> Instead of making new GUIs, internal debuggers, memory
>> measurement tools, maybe they could put the energy into
>> making a secure browser that does the same thing from
>> one day to the next ???
>>
>> I can only repeat cleaning recipes so many times,
>> before I get frustrated. Cleaning is not the answer
>> (obviously). Better designed browsers is the right answer.
>>
>> And equally obviously, web browser standards are too
>> permissive, allow too much manipulation of the computer
>> hosting the browser. Why doesn't the industry realize this,
>> and "lock down" the interface, instead of adding yet more
>> whizzy crap to it ?
>>
>> Paul
>
> I wish someone would make a web browser that would just view the text
> and pictures on a page and eliminate all the scripts, CSS, flash and
> other manipulative crap. If someone wants to view a video, they have
> to click on it and it will open in another tab without a lot more
> junk on the page.

I set firefox to not open flash without me telling it to. That eliminates a lot
of annoyances.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message >, Paul >
writes:
[]
>The other idea that comes to mind:
>
> The bloody browser company should make a browser that works.
>
>Now, that's an innovative idea whose time has come.
>
>Instead of making new GUIs, internal debuggers, memory
>measurement tools, maybe they could put the energy into
>making a secure browser that does the same thing from
>one day to the next ???
>
>I can only repeat cleaning recipes so many times,
>before I get frustrated. Cleaning is not the answer
>(obviously). Better designed browsers is the right answer.

I thoroughly agree! However, unfortunately, web designers (or rather, in
most cases, the people who make the tools web designers use) keep
inventing new things, which the browser manufacturers have to
accommodate.
>
>And equally obviously, web browser standards are too
>permissive, allow too much manipulation of the computer
>hosting the browser. Why doesn't the industry realize this,
>and "lock down" the interface, instead of adding yet more
>whizzy crap to it ?

I'm not sure what you mean there. If you mean stopping we browser users
being able to tweak, then I'm not with you. If you mean stopping web
page (designer tool) designers, and browser designers, from their
endless race of adding "features" that have to be accommodated, then I'm
with you - but there'd be an increasing number of "my browser doesn't
work with page X".

Otherwise radarlove's desire for a browser that just displayed pictures
and text would be satisfied by Firefox 2, or even Netscape 7 (or even
5), assuming the latter will even run under new OSs. [i]
>
> Paul
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If you bate your breath do you catch a lung fish? (Glynn Greenwood 1996-8-23.)

[Mark Twain]

Correction: I said that Yahoo was my homepage,
its not FF is. I meant Yahoo's homepage.

Sorry for any confusion,
Robert

[Mark Twain]

The Ad is always there and sits on
top of the page and doesn't overlay
anything.

In passing, I keep getting the Win 10
and Dell update nags.

Robert

[Mark Twain]

Now everything is back to normal

Robert

[Mark Twain]

I spoke too soon, now its back to blanks:


http://i59.tinypic.com/23k801y.jpg

Since it came back normally last night I'm
assuming this is Yahoo's problem.

I agree with everyone that it would be nice
to have a browser that's just worked.

Robert

[Mark Twain]

here's another view of the page with the ad:

http://i60.tinypic.com/6z3h34.jpg

Robert

[Paul]

Mark Twain wrote:
> here's another view of the page with the ad:
>
> http://i60.tinypic.com/6z3h34.jpg
>
> Robert
>

The AdChoice advert is supposed to be on the right,
under the red colored "live concert" button.

It looks like one kind of graphics element is not
rendering on that page. And, it isn't Flash!
The Flash items are probably working.

Now, when I try to right-click the element (which
works on my page), the properties tell me nothing
useful.

I tried to open the page in Composer, but it won't
open there.

So I have *no way* to debug your problem.

Note that, some of the graphics elements, they
consist of a picture, with an "X" in the upper right
corner. And the "X" in the upper right corner, has
a balloon help dialog that says "I don't like this advert"
or something similar. It's all of those things with the "X"
that aren't rendering in your picture. And this has caused
at least one other graphics element, to switch places.
And overlay where the "teaser" screen is located at
the top of the window.

I can "Save As" "Web Page Complete", but looking at the
HTML code, I can't tell what is missing, or what shouldn't
be there. Only a Yahooligan knows what it all means, in terms
of a design.

If I thought your prefs.js had turned off something,
at least we'd have a theory to work on. But I don't
know how they construct those things - they seem
to have a transparency policy. Which is not something
old-fashioned HTML code would sport.

Someone more familiar with web page design is going to
have to comment.

Paul

[Mark Twain]

As I said, it isn't really a problem but
something I wanted to call to everyone's
attention in case this was part of a larger
issue and if it was only me?

Maybe I did something, I don't know? I don't think
I did.

In any case, as long as nothing else is affected
I really don't mind. Yahoo and all the other browsers
are way too overblown and maxed out with everything
but the kitchen sink. So to have it simplified even if
not by design is kind of nice.

Robert

[Mark Twain]

Update:

When I clicked a story all the images came
on. Like turning on a light switch.

Robert

[Mark Twain]

My fault;

This is what's happening; I
go to the yahoo page via bookmark:

http://i61.tinypic.com/2aaeb91.jpg

then I tried scrolling through stories:

http://i59.tinypic.com/2laqxee.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/2mxjqkx.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/10sep9z.jpg

yet that one segment remains blank for some
reason?


Sorry for the confusion,

Robert

[Paul]

Mark Twain wrote:
> My fault;
>
> This is what's happening; I
> go to the yahoo page via bookmark:
>
> http://i61.tinypic.com/2aaeb91.jpg
>
> then I tried scrolling through stories:
>
> http://i59.tinypic.com/2laqxee.jpg
>
> http://i58.tinypic.com/2mxjqkx.jpg
>
> http://i58.tinypic.com/10sep9z.jpg
>
> yet that one segment remains blank for some
> reason?
>
>
> Sorry for the confusion,
>
> Robert

You could try clearing cookies (Clear Recent History).

Usually, Firefox has a place to clear History.
And then you'll see a list of things that can
be cleared. By clearing cookies, that would
clear the Yahoo.com record of what you've clicked
in the past. Specifically, what they would record,
is you clicking the "X" box on some of those
advertisements. By clearing the cookies, it
may cause the web page to resume looking like
it did before.

The only reason not to clear cookies, is when
you have a site that stores a password or something
in a cookie. I used to have a single site like that
years ago. And what I did for that site, is store the
cookie separately in a file. In case it ever got erased
(accidentally or on purpose), I could restore it. But
I haven't dealt with a site like that in a long long time,
so now I can just clear most of the history items
without worrying about it. I do keep my "Browsing history",
because that helps auto-fill certain URLs I might be looking
for. So only the top item in the History list, is the
one I don't clear.

Paul

[Mark Twain]

Hi Paul,

I did clear my cookies/history but
just to make sure I did it again but
Yahoo is still acting up. It's not
always the same either I've found.

One minutes its blank and if I start
scrolling left/right it comes alive
and others it doesn't or if I click
a story same thing.

I haven;t done anything of late to
the computer to cause this that I know
of and I've run the scans and nothing
has turned up.

As I said its not really a problem its
just weird.

Robert

[Paul]

Mark Twain wrote:
> Correction: I said that Yahoo was my homepage,
> its not FF is. I meant Yahoo's homepage.
>
> Sorry for any confusion,
> Robert

Got this suggestion in another group.

"Someone mentioned that they thought Avast was causing a problem with
images loading. That got me experimenting with my Avast as I, too, was
having problems with images loading on my.yahoo.com. I went into Avast
and under "Settings', "Active Protection", Web Shield", "Customize",
"Exclusions", I added "https://s.yimg.com". All images are now loading
every time. Hope this helps.
"

So if you are using Avast for AV protection, your yahoo missing
image problem could be causes by Avast blocking s.yimg.com .
That's what that poster is suggesting. By making an exception
using the Exclusions control, that might help bring your
images back.

Since the setup I tested your problem on, isn't using Avast,
I would not see that happen here.

Rather than the problem being a yahoo.com problem, it's
actually something Avast has done. And there is a reason
for this too. As I may have explained a couple weeks ago,
yahoo.com was being used for certain exploit attempts,
by rogue advertisers. Avast probably added that filter,
as a result of analysis of how many people were getting
infected by that network path. So if you add the
Exclusion, yes, it makes the page render properly again,
but at the (slight) risk of removing some protection.

Paul