Invalid syntax error in IE6

The website is a university website for students to get lecture notes etc. It works fine for other students just not me. I have recently installed a new disk drive and installed everything fresh but all software is the same as before just diff hard drive, I could access the website without a problem before.

My ISP is NTL.

I have tried to access the website using my laptop using a different connection and it works fine so the problem must be with me.

I have a popup killer but it is integrated into my firewall so when i tried turning off my firewall it should have also turned off my popup killer.

Tried turning off javascript but it made no difference.

The problem seems to be with this type of url:

http://userID:password@website.com

Dont know if this is significant or not.

Are you using a proxy?

Zee

Any chance the url is:

https://userid:password@website.com


(notice https, not http)

Also, the colon inside the url may be causing a problem.

Check that colon is right

also try:
https://userid%3Apassword@website.com

(percent 3A is a colon)

Ray





Ray

Just not to overlook the obvious, wanted to be sure you've gone to WindowsUpdate after all the changes made to download and install the important fixes/patches for both the Operating System as well as for IE.  

Clear cache, and check the HOSTS file for entries to the problem site to delete them.

Ive installed all the  updates possible.

I have tried using a proxy but that didn't help either.

Firewall settings?

Well I have turned off my firewall and tried it but no difference.

You left no hint about the earlier suggestion of https instead of htt:.

Did you try this?

Ray

Yes, I tried it but no difference

Can you access WindowsUpdate without problems, and is your system fully updated?

Also, ZoneAlarm may be at issue; have you tried disabling it as well as updating it?

I have turned off ZoneAlarm and it makes no difference so I can't see how that could be the problem. I can access windows update, I already have all of the updates available.

the website is http://dc.lincoln.ac.uk

When I try to access the page in IE6 it puts visitor:password into the url and gives the error of 'Invalid Syntax' e.g. http://visitor:password@dc.lincoln.ac.uk

I would bet the problem could be in the site.

I can't load it either.

Zee

Nice!

Glad you managed it.

Zee

This helps on "splitting points" and "closing questions".
http://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp#hs5
If you need a Moderator to assist you with special handling, please request it in the Community Support topic area, where questions are at zero points.

Ok... This is still an issue. Originally with IE (before a VERY recent patch), the http://username:password@website.com would work.... but, the problem is, someone could give you the link http://username:password@website.com/maliciousprogram.exe, and although it looks like your going to the website, your actually going to a very bad program. So IE patched this, and now whenever you go to http://username:password@website.com, you get loverly syntax errors. Of course, you can do the old fashioned way of going to website.com and clicking member log in, but this can be annoying for those of us just quickly checking the computer. As of yet, I have seen no "real" solution.... If you know of one, please let me know.

Slugrub; did you intend to open a new question of your own?  Or perhaps more than one userID (account) here?  I'm baffled.

Just a FYI to all:

This problem is caused by this Microsoft patch: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;834489

<Quote>
"A security update is available that modifies the default behavior of Internet Explorer for handling user information in HTTP and HTTPS URLs"
</Quote>

How to disable the new default behavior for handling user information in HTTP or HTTPS URLs
To disable the new default behavior in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer, create iexplore.exe and explorer.exe DWORD values in one of the following registry keys and set their value data to 0.
For all users of the program, set the value in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE

For the current user of the program only, set the value in the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE

For all users of the program, set the value in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE

I've tried this already but doesn't seem to fix the problem. I still get the error.

Has anybody been able to get this to work. If so please export and paste the registry key.

Cheers.
Harry

Here's my REG file.
-------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE]
"iexplore.exe"=dword:00000000
"explorer.exe"=dword:00000000

-------------------------------------

Is there a soution to this "Invalid Syntax error" I'm now getting the error when trying to access hotmail and other sites ..Not all just some...Please help! I need to get my Hotmail. Thanks LUke

Hi Lauther, as stated earlier, I solved this prob by reinstalling windows. But I have now learnt the problem was in fact with a windows update. Not sure if this will help but thats how I solved my prob.

Hi Jp 1981...Many thanks for the advice ...Unfortunatley...I am on business and don't have my Windows XP disk with me to reinstall!??? Drats the bad luck!! thanks for trying to help though! cheers John

Hi, u could try doing system restore to a previos date before the error started. Not sure if this would work but its worth a shot!!