Sometimes a user may encounter runtime errors when trying to load a webpage on his computer. Typically, they read like this:

* A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to debug?
* Internet Explorer Script Error. An error has occurred in the script on line 1. Do you wish to continue running scripts on this page?

Causes

These runtime errors are a symptom of script errors on the web page you are currently viewing. Thus, they can be attributed to the webpage author making programming errors. In fact, this is the most common cause of the run time errors. As a visitor to the website there is probably very little you can do about the problem except contact the website administrator (the webmaster), inform him/her of the problem, and hope for the best.

Even poorly written spyware can cause this problem so the only way of avoiding the problem caused by spyware is having a strong anti-spyware installed.

You could also have some program installed which – with “good intentions” of maintaining security – blocks or interferes with the operation of scripts on the webpage.

Another reason that causes the problem is that the computer could be running a pop-up killer that closes pop-up windows very fast that the script on the webpage fails.

How to Resolve the Problem

One way of resolving this problem is by configuring Internet Explorer so that it may ignore these scripts by following the steps given below.

* Start running Internet Explorer, and go to “Tools” and select “Internet Options”
* Click on the Advanced tab.
* Check the two boxes for “Disable Script debugging”.
* Uncheck the box for “Display a notification about every script error”.
* Finish by clicking OK to save the changes.

Try opening the webpage again and see whether the problem has been resolved. However, there should be no illusions that you got rid of the problem, as this is just a way of ignoring the problem rather than fixing it. It is possible that the web page that you are looking at does not work in the correct fashion.

Alternatively, you could try this method and find out whether you can fix the problem.

* Close all open instances of Internet Explorer.
* Go to the “Start” button and click on the “Control Panel”.
* Then double click on the Internet Options icon.
* Click on the “Advanced tab”.
* Uncheck the box for “Enable third-party browser extensions”.
* Finish the process by clicking “OK”. Now you can start IE.

Note that if the above solution works, it means that there is a third party browser extension that is responsible for the problem. The reason why it worked is that ALL extensions have been disabled. So, that also means all add-ons like Flash and Java have been disabled. Therefore, the long-term solution would be to look for the specific extension and disabling it.

If you are still getting the script messages, the problem could be that a spyware program has been installed into the computer. Try scanning the computer using a strong and regularly updated anti-spyware. Another way of dealing with the problem is removing any third party toolbars (such as Google’s) using the Add/Remove facility on the control panel, and then checking whether the problem has been resolved.