Missing Images
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Missing Images
A friend of mine has a problem on her Windows XP laptop. When viewing some webpages the images are missing.
It happens with Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Firefox. Looking at the HTML the <img> tag has been completely removed. On various websites some pages are fine with all images appearing properly but on other pages on the same sites none will appear. Hitting refresh changes nothing - those that do appear once always appear, those that don't appear never do. There is nothing about the HTML that differs from those pages that work to those that don't, e.g. relative or absolute paths in the IMG tag's SRC field. It effects all image types (.GIF, .JPG, .PNG).
I suspected Norton Antivirus was applying some inline modification on the HTTP traffic, but I've tried turning it off and telling it not to start at boot time but the problem persists.
This happened before and after the subsequent installation of XP SP2. NAV reports all clear. I've searched on Google and more specifically in Symantec's exploits/virus/vulnerabilities database, but found nothing.
I haven't tried Hijack This or similar (yet) because I don't have the machine in front of me. My friend is unlikely to have deliberately downloaded and installed any software and does apply Windows Updates, but might have been vulnerable to any exploits before they're patched.
Any suggestions (other than buy a Mac, which was my first one)?
It happens with Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Firefox. Looking at the HTML the <img> tag has been completely removed. On various websites some pages are fine with all images appearing properly but on other pages on the same sites none will appear. Hitting refresh changes nothing - those that do appear once always appear, those that don't appear never do. There is nothing about the HTML that differs from those pages that work to those that don't, e.g. relative or absolute paths in the IMG tag's SRC field. It effects all image types (.GIF, .JPG, .PNG).
I suspected Norton Antivirus was applying some inline modification on the HTTP traffic, but I've tried turning it off and telling it not to start at boot time but the problem persists.
This happened before and after the subsequent installation of XP SP2. NAV reports all clear. I've searched on Google and more specifically in Symantec's exploits/virus/vulnerabilities database, but found nothing.
I haven't tried Hijack This or similar (yet) because I don't have the machine in front of me. My friend is unlikely to have deliberately downloaded and installed any software and does apply Windows Updates, but might have been vulnerable to any exploits before they're patched.
Any suggestions (other than buy a Mac, which was my first one)?
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I've seen a piece of malware called ZoneAlarm mangle incoming HTML and delete images (amongst other things). But it least it (at least sometimes) inserts the string "zonealarm" somewhere in a comment in the HTML so you can tell what did it.
If it shows some images, and not others, it may be a problem with images linked from a different site. Here's an idea -- have her try this on her Mozilla/Firefox browser:
On the top menu, select Tools => Options
Select "Web Features"
In the menu, there should be a block that says "Load Images". That block should be checked.
Now the important bit -- make sure the sub-block below, which says "for the originating site only" is NOT checked. (If that box is checked, any photos linked via another site won't appear.) See if that fixes her problem.
On the top menu, select Tools => Options
Select "Web Features"
In the menu, there should be a block that says "Load Images". That block should be checked.
Now the important bit -- make sure the sub-block below, which says "for the originating site only" is NOT checked. (If that box is checked, any photos linked via another site won't appear.) See if that fixes her problem.
'nough said
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Long shot but could it be a firewall with an advert suppresser - and the images that are not visible contain some sort of meta data the firewall doesn't like?
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Nope. She showed me the problem at my office and I definitely have no such firewall. Besides, all other computers using the same Internet connection work perfectly.
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Not an answer but some thoughts...
I had a google for "missing images" (I did not add the quotes for the search.)
Heaps of responses of course but a possible new line of enquiry for you is what Microsoft have to say on this page http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283807
Most is routine stuff, like switch images back on
but there is a bit about "Internet Explorer cannot determine the character set"
Perhaps, if as Microsoft suggests " ... a file or registry key required to display the Web page with the appropriate character set may be missing or damaged" and assuming the same key is used by all browsers (I have no idea!) then the problem could happen with any browser on that machine.
Let us know what is was when you crack it!
Memetic
Heaps of responses of course but a possible new line of enquiry for you is what Microsoft have to say on this page http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283807
Most is routine stuff, like switch images back on
but there is a bit about "Internet Explorer cannot determine the character set" Perhaps, if as Microsoft suggests " ... a file or registry key required to display the Web page with the appropriate character set may be missing or damaged" and assuming the same key is used by all browsers (I have no idea!) then the problem could happen with any browser on that machine.
Let us know what is was when you crack it!
Memetic
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Thanks for trying, but...
The character set is specified explicitly in the web pages - it is identical on two different pages, one of which works, the other of which doesn't.
Besides, that page from Microsoft says that instead of the image you'd see the little red x, indicating a missing image. We don't get that, we get nothing (not surprisingly since the HTML doesn't have the image tag at all).
The character set is specified explicitly in the web pages - it is identical on two different pages, one of which works, the other of which doesn't.
Besides, that page from Microsoft says that instead of the image you'd see the little red x, indicating a missing image. We don't get that, we get nothing (not surprisingly since the HTML doesn't have the image tag at all).
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Sorry, had read but not adsorbed the bit about the tag being stripped.
I think lept on it as tweaking the chartater set solved a very annoying document conversion problem last week.
Ok a new google lots of similar issues...
image tag stripped
Interesting stuff on Norton blocking images form whole directories - I did see that you switched it off though so may be it's not that : http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/4976.htm
but interesting to see how wide a net Norton casts according to the links in this forum.
I think lept on it as tweaking the chartater set solved a very annoying document conversion problem last week.
Ok a new google lots of similar issues...
image tag stripped
Interesting stuff on Norton blocking images form whole directories - I did see that you switched it off though so may be it's not that : http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/4976.htm
but interesting to see how wide a net Norton casts according to the links in this forum.
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You inspired me to do a bit more digging on google. Reading around I strongly suspect Norton, even though I was pretty sure I'd turned it off. When I next have the machine in front of me I'll more carefully verify it is off, indeed uninstalling it completely if I need to. One of the reasons that I am particularly suspicious is that apparently Norton (in common with other stupid software) looks at the image size and the path name to determine if it thinks it might be an advertisment. The images were odd sizes but they are in a directory called /images/banner on at least one of the problem pages and apparently "banner" is a bad word as far as Norton is concerned, so it may well be that.
I'll let you know.
I'll let you know.
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drauk,
When you turn NAV off, you need to CTRL + ALT + DEL and shut down the processes that are still running in the background.
Then you will be able to tell if it is NAV that is causing the problem on that comp or not.
Take Care,
Richard
When you turn NAV off, you need to CTRL + ALT + DEL and shut down the processes that are still running in the background.
Then you will be able to tell if it is NAV that is causing the problem on that comp or not.
Take Care,
Richard
