# Web Browser showing code **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115 "2004-07-27T16:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/1 "2004-07-27T16:41:48Z")
Lately, some websites are showing up as html “code” on my browser, rather than giving me a graphical display. Case in point, this is I get when I go to [MSN.Com](http://MSN.Com) HTTP/1.1 200 Ok Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 01:28:33 GMT Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0 P3P: CP=“ALL IND DSP COR ADM CONo CUR CUSo IVAo IVDo PSA PSD TAI TELo OUR SAMo CNT COM INT NAV ONL PHY PRE PUR UNI” X-Powered-By: [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET) Content-Type: text/html Expires: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 01:28:33 GMT Cache-control: private X-TS: CF2E9CDC~40711 Age: 674 Via: HTTP/1.1 mtc-aa13 (Traffic-Server/5.3.4 [cMsSf]), HTTP/1.1 Turboweb [mtc-ab072 8.1.1], HTTP/1.1 (Velocity/1.0.5 [uScMsSf pSeN:t cCMpSs]) Content-Length: 40711 oftware, solutions, answers, support, and Microsoft news." /\> But… it only does this for some sites, not all, and only intermittently. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/2 "2004-07-27T16:53:18Z")
> [@TwoTrouts](#): > > Any ideas? I might, if I had any idea of what browser and OS you’re using. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/3 "2004-07-27T16:57:33Z")
Yeah, I guess that it essential information :smack: OS: Microsoft ME Browser: AOL 9.0 (I believe it is the latest version of IE) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/4 "2004-07-27T17:17:20Z")
Has AOL given up on it’s own (crappy) browser and gone with IE now? The last time I had AOL (7.0, IIRC), it was using it’s own proprietary browser, which was actually inferior to even IE, if you can believe it. If you’ve got IE installed, and you probably do, then launch that and see if it renders the pages properly. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/5 "2004-07-27T17:21:30Z")
Okay, I tried that (launching IE separately from AOL) and the MSN site shows up just fine, but other sites show up as html code. Very strange. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-browser-showing-code/257115/6 "2004-07-27T18:13:28Z")
> [@TwoTrouts](#): > > Okay, I tried that (launching IE separately from AOL) and the MSN site shows up just fine, but other sites show up as html code. Very strange. Possibility #1 - You browser and/or Internet connection is faulty in that it does not complete the “handshaking” process in order to correctly send the web page. Possibility #2 - Microsoft has a history of “disabling” non-IE browsers attempting to access Microsoft web sites. The most famous case is with the Opera web browser. [MSN deliberately breaks Opera’s browser, claims company](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/06/msn_deliberately_breaks_operas_browser/), from The Register in February 2003. [Why doesn’t MSN work with Opera?](http://deb.opera.com/howcome/2003/2/msn/), from the Opera web site. Lest you think this is just a sour grapes story from 2003, in May of this year [Microsoft paid Opera $12 million](http://news.com.com/Microsoft+behind+%2412+million+payment+to+Opera/2100-1032_3-5218163.html?tag=nefd.top) to head off a threatened lawsuit on this very issue. This same browser sabotage also affect earlier versions of Mozilla and Netscape. IIRC, the AOL browser also suffered from this same sabotage.