Tech: Error message

Subject: Tech: Error message
From: kendall
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 08:39 PM

Every time I get an e mail from one of my daughters, this pops up:

INTERNET EXPLORER SCRIPT ERROR

A yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it, and this: An error has
occurred in the script on this page

Line   58
Char:    9
error 'top.DateFormat' is null or not an object
Code 0
urlmhtml:mid:/00000044/
do you want to continue running scripts on this page

Yes   No






It only comes up with her e mails, no one elses. Any clues?

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 09:17 PM

I'd say don't bother to correct the error, just click "No" and go past it to the message. Clicking "yes" is liable to make the page hang. It's one of those things that means that an address on the page isn't properly formatted as far as the HTML portion is concerned. It probably has to do with the form in which the email is transmitted, if she is using a web version of email. As long as you can read the message, don't worry about it. Have you tried it in a different browser?

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: kendall
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 06:34 AM

No. I don't know how. Is there something she can do? I think the problem is on her end of the cosmos.

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: kendall
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 11:37 AM

The last two e mails from her came through without this notice.Curious.

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: Bernard
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 11:45 AM

The simplest cure is to tell her to send text-only emails to you, or Rich Text emails.

Either her machine or yours has a problem with HTML format emails, which could be like finding a needle in a haystack!

That said, I've seen this happen on Win98 machines when the printer installation was broken... very odd!

Script error messages are quite common on WinME machines.

Are you viewing the message using webmail, or is it via Outlook/Outlook Express?

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 12:01 PM

You can tell your email to allow you to see text only or html messages. Depending on the program you use (we've covered this ground before) you can usually go into the drop down menus at the top and tell it to display the html (or not). Chances are, like Bernard has pointed out, you have imcompatible versions of the email or old operating system software that doesn't like the newer mail programs. But most of them can be set to display html. If it isn't displaying properly, maybe you should look into downloading an update to the browser or the email program. Are you using Outlook? I think that is tied to Internet Explorer. I don't like the newest version, but if your daughter is using the newest version, maybe it's messing things up a bit. I'm not using it yet, I blocked the computer from installing it. I still use IE 6 at home, but my office computer now has 7 and I don't particularly like it. For one thing, they moved the buttons and changed their look, so I have to hunt for what I need. Anyway. . .

I thought you installed Firefox some time back, I seem to remember that coming up in a tech thread. Try opening Firefox and from there go to that email program and see if the same thing happens.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Error message
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 02:12 PM

Stilly -

All you have to do with IE7 to get everything "like IE6" is click the "Tools" icon at the right and put a check by "Menu Bar." That will display the old "File Edit View Favorites Tools Help" bar from IE6. I don't know of a simple way to turn off the "new" toolbar (the Tab bar) with the funky icons, but displaying both only loses "one bar" of screen space.

Kendall -

Theoretically, a local computer clock that's too far wrong could cause the timestamp script error. The web standard allows a local clock error of a few decades so you'd have to not know what century you're in, but an isp - hers or yours - could truncate the offset value so that better accuracy is needed. With an older machine, or one that's only used rarely, one might suspect a dead (or just not adequately charged) "clock battery," but that usually gives lots of other symptoms.

In WinXP, if you double-click the "time" on the Start toolbar, at the right, you should find a tab for "Internet Time," and if the tab is there you should have a check in the "synchronize with" box. It doesn't make any real difference what site shows in the "Server" box, since they're all sufficiently accurate.

I suspect another reason in your case, but if it's available the machine should be allowed to keep its clock in step with the net so it's worth taking a look just on principle.

John