I use Internet Explorer and occasionally get ‘scripting error’ message

I use Internet Explorer and occasionally get ‘scripting error’ messages when I am on the Internet and don’t know what is causing it. What is wrong with my computer?
- Linda

This question was answered on January 14, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

In the world of the Internet, scripts are a list of commands that can be executed without the users interaction Scripts are created by web developers for a variety of reasons including to make access to information easier more entertaining or to deliver advertising Scripts can be used to allow for easy financial transactions for e-commerce sites, for generating ‘cookies’ (unique identifiers) or to generate those annoying pop-up or pop-under ads

Your browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, attempts to run these scripts automatically when you go to these types of web pages An error message may appear if you are running an older version of the browser that is not up to speed with today’s scripting languages or a setting in your browser is not allowing scripts to run or more likely, if the party that created the web page made an error in the scripting for the site

When you get the message: “Internet Explorer Script Error - An error has occurred in the script on this page Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?” your choices are Yes or No If you say Yes, it will likely just generate another script error and if you say No, the page may not render properly or a feature may not be available In most cases, clicking on ‘No’ is the best option.

If you have the latest Internet Explorer (version 6), it is likely that you already have the necessary items installed to run the scripts properly and you won’t be bothered with scripting errors by default if you do go to a site that contains errors If you have not updated your browser for several years, you may want to start by visiting www.microsoft.com/ie for the latest free upgrade (You can determine which version you are running by clicking on ‘Help’, then on the ‘About…’ option.)

If you have version 5.X or older of Internet Explorer, the default configuration is to report every scripting error to the user, even though you can’t do anything about it! If you want to turn this notification off, click on Tools, then Internet Options, then on the ‘Advanced’ tab to display the settings options In the ‘Browsing’ section, look for the following options: ‘Disable Script Debugging’ and ‘Display a notification about every script error’ Place a checkmark on the ‘Disable…’ option and remove the checkmark from the ‘Display…’ option.

There are a number of other possibilities for older computers running 5.X or older versions of Internet Explorer that include updating the scripting engine, disabling the smooth scrolling, upgrading DirectX, changing the video display settings or disabling Active Desktop.

If you want to make sure that your system is not the problem, Microsoft has posted a step-by-step resource on their web site for dealing with scripting errors at:

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q181698" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q181698</b></font></a>