Another day, another error it seems. Error 404 and 500 are actually two sides of the same issue – not that it’s particularly comforting when you’re trying to get something done and you keep running into problems.

Both error 404 and 500 occur when you’re trying to work online. 404 is the error that pops up when the Internet browser you’re using thinks you’ve done something wrong. The message says that the browser couldn't find the page, either because you entered the address wrong or because the page isn't there anymore.  Of course, the latter isn't your fault, but since the browser is a program installed on your computer, HTML Error 404 is considered to be an error on your end, a Local Error.

Error 500 is the other side of the coin, it pops up when the server you’re trying to connect to isn’t working properly and so it's called a Server Side Error.

Internet Browsers and Servers

It can all be rather confusing until you understand how Internet communication works behind the scenes. When you sit down at the computer, you open Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or perhaps Google Chrome. These are Web Browsers, programs designed to translate digital information and display it in the form of text, images and media, what you recognize as webpages.

Internet Explorer is the most used search engine, and it’s no wonder it’s so popular when you stop to consider all of the various things IE can do. In fact, you can even boost the performance of Internet Explorer to make it more impressive than it already is using a few quick tricks for optimization.

Enjoying Internet Explorer

If you’ve barely scratched the surface of Internet Explorer, you’re missing out on many of its best features. The new IE includes plenty of bells and whistles, but these are the best kinds of features. They are the ones you can actually put to use to make your online life simpler.

IE is fast. The search and response speed is boosted over previous versions of Internet Explorer. Videos play faster, slideshows load almost instantly. Programs download with amazing speed. You can make your search engine even faster, however, by fully optimizing it.

IE is simple. With a new design for simplicity, you can find the buttons you need quickly and easily. You can also find your favorite websites easily by pinning them to your desktop or saving the site as a favorite. A One Box feature allows you to go directly to a website or to search the web from the same place. Just start typing in the box and IE will automatically know what to do – no more searching for the right place to type requests or typing in a website url just to get something to do the search for you. The tabbed browsing makes it easier to keep up with your various websites as well by clicking between tabs as you work, read or play.

IE is safe(r). Internet Explorer now comes with safety features designed to make your browsing safer and less troublesome. ActiveX filtering puts you in control of which websites you use as it blocks the potentially risky software and gives you the option to download it. You also have the option to block ActiveX files which speeds up the search engine performance as well.

Sometimes you’re able to deal with this particular error for a bit, but most of the time it stops you dead in your web surfing tracks. Internet Explorer script errors tend to tell you things like “Done, but with errors on page.” Or “A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to Debug?” When you get these particular errors, you’ll need to take a methodical process to get your computer back up and running correctly.

Disable Script Debugging

If your websites are working, but you’re getting the error messages anyhow, you can simply ignore the errors by disabling script debugging. This only works, though, if you’re dealing with a couple of sites that seem to cause problems. If most websites seem to have errors, don’t turn off debugging. To ignore the errors on just a few pages, turn off Script Debugging.

1. Click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options.
2. Look on the Advanced Tab and select the checkbox labeled Disable script debugging.
3. Select OK.

You can also turn off the notifications about every error as well.

1. Click on Tools and then Internet Options.
2. Open the Advanced Tab and uncheck the box labeled Display a notification about every script error.
3. Click OK.

On September 15, Microsoft brought Internet Explorer 9 to the populace by allowing users to download the beta version of the new browser. Those who have lamented IE 8 are intrigued by IE 9 for good reason – there are some pretty handy features there – particularly a more streamlined interface, better performance and full integration into Windows 7.

Improved Interface

IE 9 looks a lot like Google Chrome, which is actually a good thing. Streamlined, simple and easy to use, you’re able to maneuver through IE9 much more easily than you could IE8. The search box and the web address box are actually combined now, so that when you go to start typing, IE 9 offers you suggestions from your favorites, Bing and even offers some thumbnails to give you an idea of where you’re headed before making your selection.