Strange, repeatable problem when browsing eBay with PWBv2.06

AvonLibrary · Post by **AvonLibrary** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:30 pm

I'm in the process of upgrading a library from pwb v1.x to v2.06. I just came across this problem while testing my settings. Perhaps some others can try this out and let me know if you experience the same issue:

1. Go to www.ebay.com
2. Click on My Ebay at the top of the page
3. Sign in (obviously you need to have a login ID

)
4. Scroll down to the section of the page named "Ebay Announcements"
5. Currently, the top article in that section is "Reminder to Attend eBay University in Anaheim, CA on November 20".
6. Click on that link (or any other), it should open up a new window. BEFORE the page finishes loading, close the page.

On my machine, this causes Internet Explorer (not the PWB shell, the actual IE program) to go haywire and opens/attempts to open lots and lots of windows going to the link. Number of windows opened are probably limited to the machines capability, as mine kept going well past 70 windows opened. All attempting/succeeding in opening the link page. Closing them out only causes more to pop open.

Background info:
-Machine is an athlon xp 1700+ w/ 512mb ram. Onboard vid/sound/lan (ECS motherboard I believe). Maxtor 40gb drive.
-WinXP sp2 with all current updates
-Symantec Antivirus Corporate 9.0, definitions via server
-Also running Fortres v5.0 build 1044, though it is disabled when logged in as Administrator.
-No other software running in background

I thought it might be Spyware related, but I ran a scan with Adaware SE with updated definitions and it only found a couple cookies and didn't change the problem. Also, it is opening up multiple instances of the link page, not the "normal" spyware ads and what not.

Is this a known PWB 2.06 issue? This problem does not happen on this machine when using IE or FireFox, only when using PWB.

Thanks for any help.

-Matt

TSSI · Post by **TSSI** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:36 pm

Just remembered I have a login ID on this forum. Same guy from parent post.

Just wanted to add that this does not happen with any other pcs on site, all of which are using PWB v1.x.

-Matt

TSSI · Post by **TSSI** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:21 pm

Just tried installing on a Win2k professional machine, (p4, 256mb ram, dell) running same antivirus, cleaned by adaware, Fortres disabled. Same problem.

Also tried on a different win2k pc (same as above) though not running Fortres at all. Same problem.

uninstalled v2.06 and tried with v2.05 on the non-fortres win2k pc. Same problem.

Any ideas? We have just purchased a license for PWB v2 and would like to deploy it, but the library patrons use ebay quite often, so deployment is not an option currently.

-Matt

Post by **Scott** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:05 pm

Try using ManageIE to prevent IE from opening.

PWB uses the IE web browser control for all browsing functionality, it is possible a JavaScript, ActiveX, or any other type of plugin or scripting language, may have an error when the page is closed before fully loading and it is expecting to find the browser (IE) still running.

--Scott

TSSI · Post by **TSSI** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:48 am

Just tried using ManageIE. It does indeed prevent IE from opening up, but you can tell its trying. Now instead of opening a bunch of windows, the PWB window starts flashing and is unresponsive. After a minute or so of this, another pwb window will open and attempt to access the link site. Nothing happens when you click on anything, though after a while the whole browser finally just shut down without crashing the whole computer.

Any other workarounds?

larryk · Post by **larryk** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:01 am

I just tried your test, and It does the same thing for me.
I am also using 2.06, and ManageIE.

Post by **Scott** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:18 am

This does seem to be a problem. We are currently looking into it. We should hopefully have it resolved soon.

--Scott

Post by **Scott** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:12 pm

An update. The problem does not happen with PWB v2.04. I am working on finding what was changed to cause the problem in v2.05+.

--Scott

Post by **Scott** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:10 am

I have posted PWB v2.06 revision 1 beta. This revision fixes the E-Bay close window problem.

http://www.teamsoftwaresolutions.com/beta/PWBv206r1.zip

This revision has very minor changes over PWB v2.06 so you should not have any problems using it. We will be officially releasing this after a short test period. Please let me know if you have any problems with it.

--Scott