cphite wrote:I bought my wife a Dell laptop for Christmas; running Windows 8 64-bit. It seems to be having some sort of issue with java.
The most glaring example is that when you open Internet Explorer, it opens to a page telling you how wonderful IE is and asking you to make it your default. Her default is Chrome. Anyway, there are two buttons, one that says to make IE your default, the other says no thanks. Neither appears to actually do anything when you click them. They change color, but no action is taken. There are a few other web pages that seem to work (or fail to work) the same way. The main reason it's an issue is that she uses a tax program called TaxACT that utilizes IE and only about half the buttons in it work.
Not getting any sort of errors anywhere. I've checked the security settings and everything looks normal. Did the "reset" thing under Internet Options. Tried reinstalling Java.
1. Are you talking about problem with IE or Java? It seems like you are drawing some conclusion but your evidence does not seem to relate to "Java".
2. The dialog asking you whether to make IE the default is just to set the default association for web links. Clicking Yes or No should close the little dialog and nothing much else. The next time you click on a URL link then the set browser will take over and go to the link that you click on. I am not sure you meant by "no action". Do you mean that the little dialog window does not even go away?
3. "Utilizes IE" still does not mean "Java" to me. I am really confused. At this point I can think of IE10 does not work nice with your application that is based on HTML/Javascript (not Java, but I don't know TaxACT to completely discount that it does not use Java stuff). You can try turning on
compatibility mode.
When it comes to the term "Java", there are a few confusing terms that may mean different things:
1. A standalone "Java application": a full blown application not running under any other hosts like the web browser. The Java runtime is the process (usually javaw.exe).
2. A "Java applet" that is supposed to run inside the sandbox of a host like a web browser. This is an early form of how Java applications get sent over the wire but its use is declining. The recent vulnerability that has the Department of Homeland Security issuing notices for everyone to "disable Java" targets this kind of application. If you have the latest Java installed then the documentation says you need to answer a question of "do you want to run this applet" before the Java applet is loaded and run inside the browser. It is hard to imagine that a tax software will use Java applets these days.
3. Javascript: this is just a scripting language with no relation to Java, other than name.
You need to be more specific in your information for us to tell you more.
Edit:
TaxACT 2012 free edition claims it works with Windows 8. May be call their support?
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