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Microsoft IE6 SP1 and ISA proxy server issues

Background

UCAS is aware that some schools have reported difficulties using Apply. These difficulties involve the application appearing to hang/freeze at random times, with no apparent error messages being displayed.

UCAS sent questionnaires to all schools that reported this problem and found that in all cases these schools were using :

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) applied
and
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Proxy Server

UCAS has now replicated this problem by purchasing and installing a local ISA proxy server.

Problem

The problem appears to be documented in Microsoft's knowledge base, article number 811383

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem affecting:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

The problem only affects secure websites (using HTTPS) and is not specific to the UCAS website.

Exact Symptoms

  1. The browser simply stops responding after anywhere between 30 seconds and 10 minutes of use.

  2. The images often disappear when clicked on but no other screen movement is visible.

  3. No HTTP 404 or other error pages appear.

  4. If you cut and paste the address (URL) that was left by the 'hung' Apply browser into a new browser window, you could carry on working, but eventually it would 'hang' as well.

  5. If the application was initially opened in a new browser window when Apply 'hung', entering another URL into the address bar (eg www.bbc.co.uk) would be unsuccessful. This shows that this browser was dead when attempting to go through the proxy to browse. However, entering a local URL (i.e. entering a local intranet address which does not go through the proxy) would still be accessible.

  6. This affects secure websites only (using HTTPS).

Solution

UCAS contacted Microsoft as instructed in the knowledge base article number 811383. A fix for IE 6.0 SP1 was sent to UCAS free of charge. This fix was applied to several PCs at UCAS. This solved the problem on each occasion, whether on Windows XP, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 operating systems.

This fix has also been applied to several schools experiencing this problem and was also equally successful.

It is for your school/college to decide whether to apply this fix.

Other workarounds would include:

  • using another browser - Netscape / Opera

  • using IE 5.x

  • waiting for SP2 for Internet Explorer

Obtaining the fix from Microsoft

Please be aware that this fix must be applied to each CLIENT machine ONLY where that machine is running IE 6 SP1. The service pack must have already been applied for this fix to work. Installation errors have only been experienced where the fix has been erroneously applied to machines NOT running IE 6.0 SP1.

It is suggested that you read all the Microsoft advice and trial this fix on one client PC. UCAS has not experienced any other side effects of applying this fix, but all sites are different.

Go to the Microsoft knowledge base article 811383 to obtain more information on the issue. Alternatively, you can download the fix directly from the Microsoft website.

When running the fix you may encounter the following message:

This update requires Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 to be installed.

This error is caused because the version of the wininet.dll currently installed on the CLIENT machine is of a higher version than the one contained in this fix (Q811383 - wininet.dll version 6.0.2800.1147).

If this is the case, there is no need to apply this fix.

Please call Microsoft if you need help with this; we found them to be most helpful.

Microsoft Contact Centre: 0870 60 10 100

No school should be charged for this fix.

The fix is painless to install on a machine running IE 6.0 SP1, but does require the client PC to be restarted. Once you have done this, you can click on Help | About Internet Explorer and see that the fix has been applied. If successful, the Update Versions listed on this page will include Q811383.

If you are using an internet content filtering system, for example, SurfControl, N2H2, We-Blocker, NetNanny, Cybersitter, please ensure that the URL address, shown below, is added to the explicit allowed sites on the internet content filtering software, preferably at the top of a processing rule and also disable caching of this address at the proxy.

https://apply2.ucas.com