> I thought that this forum
> was where I could get an informed and professional solution.
>
This particular group is for XP questions. What
you're dealing with is a browser rendering question.
And no one else seems to think it's a problem.
You didn't mention whether all browsers you're
using have script enabled, so I'm assuming they do.
It also wasn't clear whether you've got different firewalls,
ad blockers, etc.
Beyond that, if you really want to figure it out you
could try downloading the whole webpage In Firefox
that's File -> Save Page As... and select the "complete"
option in the Save window. (I don't know about how it
works in IE. I assume Microsoft has copycatted Mozilla by
now.) You'll end up with a folder that contains all files for
the site. The HTML code that relates to the box is:
<div id="ad1" class="ad1"></div>
So you'd need to look in the main webpage as well as
all .css and .js files for references to "ad1". If you have
some experience with CSS and javascript you may be
able to figure out what is supposed to happen with the
box. ... I don't know any easier way to figure it out.
Another possible factor is different HOSTS files on the different
PCs. Working on the theory that script may close up the
hole if an ad is not available, you could have a HOSTS file
on one PC that's blocking the ad. but unless you put the
HOSTS file there yourself then that's very unlikely to affect
things.
If you don't know about HOSTS files, that *is* worth the
research. It's fairly easy to block nearly all ads with a HOSTS
file. In Firefox you can also block the IFRAMES that many ads
are now currently displayed in. With many people blocking
3rd-party images, ad companies started putting ads into
IFRAMES. The IFRAME is a sub-window, so it's in a different
domain but the browser treats it as being on the same
page. That means it gets around 3rd-party image blocking.
It also gets around 3rd-party cookie blocking, so that
Doubleclick can follow you all over the Web. Even worse,
IFRAMES are the source of a lot of browser attacks that use
"cross site scripting". So there are lots of reasons to block
them. (One caveat: There is no need to ever use IFRAMES
in webpage code, but a few website designers use them
"honestly" to render scrolling text, because they don't know
any better. If you block IFRAMES you'll end up blocking those
uses, too.)
Blocking IFRAMES in Firefox, after blocking ads with a
HOSTS file, will make all the left-over, empty ad windows
disappear. To do that, create a file userContent.css in the
chrome folder, which is usually something like:
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxx.default\chrome
where the "xxxxxx" is random. In that file put this line:
IFRAME {display: none !important;}
Voila! No more IFRAMES. Unfortunately, I don't think
IE can do anything like that, short of writing a browser
extension.
That all may be more than you want to know, but
hopefully it's useful info. If you really want to figure
out webpage rendering issues then you don't have
much choice but to learn about HTML, CSS, script,
etc.
