Computer and Web Articles

Question: Very often when I’m online (using Internet Explorer) my work is interrupted by an insidious message in a square box about 2 x 2”inches or so. “ERROR” is in the upper left corner under which is a large red circle with a white X through it. Under the X is the message: “A runtime error has occurred. Do you wish to Debug? Line:12 (although this number varies a great deal) Error: ‘com’ is undefined.” Under this message are two boxes: “Yes” and “No.” This message is very hard to get around. Even after clicking the “NO” button and trying to get away, the message continues to pop up over and over again precluding navigating anywhere else. Do you know what causes this, or how to get rid of it permanently? Thanks so much for your help! — Annieb, Silverthorne Colorado

Answer: Hi there Annieb. Yes, I do know this error; I’ve repeatedly seen it slowly drive people toward madness with its ridiculously annoying tendencies. Thankfully the problem isn’t serious and it’s an easy one to solve.

The error you’re seeing (over and over and over again) is actually an error message that’s intended specifically for web developers who are testing and debugging their sites. And of course, I know of a solution.

To prevent the error from appearing in the future, you’ll need to open Internet Explorer, look up near the top of the page, and then click Tools, then Internet Options, then the Advanced tab. You should now be looking at a long list of options and associated checkboxes. Scroll through these options and make sure the following two are checked:

• Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer)
• Disable script debugging (other)

Then, make sure the option below these two (Display a notification about every script error) is *not* checked.

Last, click OK to close the dialog box and your problem should be solved. Bye-bye, annoying ERROR message.