An issue I’ve been dealing with recently involves Internet Explorer unexpectedly coming up with the message “This page cannot be displayed”, when surfing but only on some websites.  Sometimes it is the entire page with that message, sometimes its only part of the page.

(I have found 2 solutions that have helped clear up this issue.  I suggest trying solution #1 and seeing if that corrects things and then moving to solution #2 if the issue continues.) The issue seems to occur because something inside of Internet Explorer gets “corrupted”.  To clear up the corruption you can do the following

Solution #1 – Clear Cookies and Temporary Internet files.

To clear cookies and Temporary Internet –

• Close all open copies of Internet Explorer
• Go to Start –> Settings –> Control Panel –> Internet Options

• When Internet Options opens –> Click on Delete (Middle of the page)

• When the Delete Browsing History opens –> Make sure that Preserve Favorites website data is unchecked and that Temporary Internet files and cookies have a check next to them.

• At this point click on Delete (at the bottom).  Once the system finishes removing your temp files and cookies, you can close the Internet options windows by clicking ok.
• Now open Internet Explorer and try one of the sites that wasn’t working again.

Solution #2 – Reset Internet Explorer to “Factory Defaults”

Sometimes the issue with Internet Explorer can be caused by a toolbar, or add-on that is just not working properly. If Solution #1 didn’t fix your issue, try the following steps.  (Again this is done with Internet Explorer closed.)

• Go to start –> settings –> Control Panel – Internet Options
• In the Internet Options Window –> Go to the Advanced Tab
• Then Click on the Reset button (towards the bottom of the box)

• The following Window will open –> click on Reset**. (See Below if you want to know what changes with this reset)

(Prior to this reset make note what your homepage address is, as that will be changed back to msn.com)

• Once reset completed, close the Internet Options window by clicking ok, and then try one of the sites that wasn’t working correctly. 

This is what happens when you do the reset.

Reset Internet Explorer settings

By resetting Internet Explorer settings, you return Internet Explorer to the state it was in when it was first installed on your computer. This is useful for troubleshooting problems that might be caused by settings that were changed after installation. When you delete personal settings, some webpages that rely on previously stored cookies, form data, passwords, or previously installed browser add-ons might not work correctly. Resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not delete your favorites, feeds, Web Slices, and a few other personalized settings. See the table below for a complete list of all settings and information about whether they are reset or maintained.

Resetting Internet Explorer’s settings is not reversible. After a reset, all previous settings are lost and cannot be recovered. Rather than resetting everything, you might want to reset specific settings or delete your webpage history. For more information, see the links at the bottom of this topic.

Internet Explorer settings that are affected by a reset

The following table describes what will happen to various settings when you reset Internet Explorer.

 

Settings categories	Items affected
Settings that are deleted	Disabled toolbars and add-ons Websites added to intranet, trusted, or restricted zones Websites added for special cookie handling under the Privacy tab Websites allowed to use pop-ups under Pop-up Blocker settings
Settings that are reset to Windows, manufacturer, Internet provider, or corporate defaults	Home page (for information about backing up your home page tabs, (SUGGESTED – NOTE WHAT YOUR TABS ARE) Search providers, tabbed browsing settings Colors, languages, fonts, and accessibility settings (General tab) Security settings for all zones (Security tab) Advanced tab settings Privacy tab settings Pop-up blocker, AutoComplete, SmartScreen Filter, and Zoom settings Page setup, toolbar, and text size settings Feeds settings (sync and notification, not feeds themselves) ActiveX controls that are not on the pre-approved list (reset to opt-in state) Toolbars, browser helper objects, and browser extensions are disabled
Settings that are deleted (Delete personal settings is selected)	Browser history, temporary Internet files, cookies, form data, and stored passwords Typed URL information, menu extensions InPrivate Filtering data Explorer most recently used list
Settings and items that are maintained	Favorites Feeds and Web Slices Content Advisor settings Pre-approved ActiveX controls Temporary Internet file (cache) path settings Certificate information Internet Programs (e‑mail, instant messenger, and other programs associated with Internet use) Internet connection, proxy, and VPN settings Default web browser setting Toolbars are not restored