# My browser no longer allows "view-source"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 31, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504 "2004-03-31T11:47:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/1 "2004-03-31T11:47:40Z")
When browsing a website with my browser at work (MS Internet Explorer, v. 5.00), if I choose the View pull-down menu and then choose Source, nothing happens.
Same if I right-click on the page and choose View Source. Nothing happens.
The selections aren’t grayed out, they just don’t work any longer.
With the exception: If I’m browsing a HTML file on the hard drive or on the local network, then View-Source works fine.
Is this perhaps some “added security” that our I.T. department added? Or maybe a known bug that was fixed since v.5.00? Or perhaps the result of some setting that I unwittingly changed?
Any ideas?
😕
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### Author:  [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/2 "2004-03-31T12:05:13Z")
I’ve seen this behaviour (very inconsistently) in the past. I think it is an IE bug but no-one has ever been able to confirm this. I’ve found reloading the page in a new browser window often sorts it out.
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### Author:  [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/3 "2004-03-31T12:26:38Z")
I’ve been running into this for a long time now. Somewhere along the line I found a “fix” which makes “view source” work again… at least for a while. Deleting temporary internet files seems to make it work properly again.
tools-internet options-delete files.
I’d be curious if someone knew the reason for this behavior, and if there is a more permanent fix out there.
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### Author:  [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/4 "2004-03-31T13:56:54Z")
**zuma** ’s suggestion should fix it. [According to Microsoft](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306907) this is just an eccentricity of IE.
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/5 "2004-03-31T15:19:31Z")
I don’t know if there’s permanent solution. Your computer just seems to run out of space.
I’ve noticed a similar issue using Notepad alone, which I use to make webpages. Even a small file, edited and saved many times under the same file name in one session can led to not being able to proceed further. Notepad I think is supposed to handle 75-100K files, but I’ve locked things up with 35K. So I have to turned things off and start up again.
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### Author:  [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/6 "2004-03-31T22:32:08Z")
Many thanks to Zuma et al. Things are working like a charm now. 🆒
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/7 "2004-03-31T22:43:14Z")
> [@zuma](#):
>
> I’d be curious if someone knew the reason for this behavior, and if there is a more permanent fix out there.
I think the more permanent fix is called IE6.
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### Author:  [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/8 "2004-03-31T23:37:41Z")
Nope, still happens from time to time in IE6. And that is the official fix - delete your temporary internet files.
The permanent fix is called [Firefox, the browser](http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) 🙂
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/9 "2004-04-01T01:00:38Z")
I use IE6 (Win98) and the only place this happens (that I’ve tried, anyway) is the SDMB. Deleting the temp files didn’t work.
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### Author:  [@sigSEGV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sigSEGV)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/10 "2004-04-01T03:47:07Z")
Are you viewing an HTTPS page? IE has an option to “do not cache secure pages” that will cause this to happen.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/11 "2004-04-01T07:59:57Z")
Hmmm… odd; my impression was that IE5 was really buggy, 5.5 less so and 6 was pretty stable, but I moved to IE6 at the same time as moving from Win98 to XP, which might be significant.
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### Author:  [@Blornx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blornx)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-browser-no-longer-allows-view-source/237504/12 "2004-04-01T19:46:49Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#):
>
> Nope, still happens from time to time in IE6. And that is the official fix - delete your temporary internet files.
>
> The permanent fix is called [Firefox, the browser](http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) 🙂
Firefox fixes many things, but unfortunately saving you from having to delete your cache every so often is not one of them. It’s still in beta form.