“Help! I can’t download my Secure Adobe ebook using Internet Explorer.”
Digimonkey receives this cry for help daily from customers using older versions of Internet Explorer, so she decided to spend a little time discussing the available alternatives and solutions for dealing with this issue.
Internet Explorer is an Internet browser, not the Internet itself, which means it’s one way of accessing the Internet, but not the only way. While Microsoft would love to have everyone use Internet Explorer because it’s their product, IE is only one of several free browsers. Here are links to a few alternatives.
Mozilla Firefox: www.mozilla.org
Google Chrome: www.google.com
Safari: www.apple.com
Opera: www.opera.com
Each of these can be downloaded and installed on either a PC or a MAC, and some can also be installed on portable devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Digi’s personal favorite is Firefox because of its consistent good performance, but any of these options will help you to get around pesky IE errors.
Why Am I Seeing Errors?
Errors in Internet Explorer usually occur when IE identifies a connection request as a security threat when it is, in fact, a legitimate request. In the case of Secure format files, it blocks the customer’s computer from establishing a connection with the vendor’s server for the purpose of downloading the Secure file. These errors occur more frequently when the software is outdated, so it’s always a good idea to update your software whenever possible. Software companies don’t invest in upgrading and troubleshooting issues in older versions.
The most common error that customers see with IE 7 and 8 is that when the Secure link is clicked, a security bar appears at the top of the page that states “To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading files to your computer. Click here for options…”.
IE Security notification
Clicking on the bar opens a window that says “This webpage contains content that will not be delivered using a secure HTTPS connection. Do you want to allow the connection?” You have the option of clicking “Yes” or “No”, but regardless of which you click, the window either just keeps popping up or the next item that appears is a window that states “Unable to download. Unspecified error.”
The Solutions
The good news is that there are solutions to this particular problem. First, this error only affects Internet Explorer 7 and 8, so if you are using a PC with Vista or Windows 7, you can update your Internet Explorer to version 9 and the error will clear.
However, a far better and more permanent solution is to install one of the alternate browsers listed above and to use it to download your files, particularly in the case of Secure files. The other browsers do a much better job of properly identifying content and therefore will allow the legitimate connections while still keeping out the questionable ones. Problem solved!
Filed Under: DigiMonkey eBook Tips
Tagged: digimonkey, download, eBook tips, internet explorer
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