I am using my desktop to post this because I can't get on-LINE with my laptop at all. On my laptop, neither Firefox nor IE will open. It is a secondhand Dell laptop with Windows XP Professional. I have SafeEyes as my Internet filter.
When I try to open Firefox, this error message pops up: firefox.exe - Bad Image The application or DLL C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\xul.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette.

I don't know if there is an installation diskette that came with this computer. Someone bought it for me off EBay several months ago, and Firefox used to work fine. I almost always use Firefox, so I don't know just when IE stopped working, but when I try to open IE, all that happens is another IE icon appears on the desktop.

I have Norton 360 and I think Firefox quit soon after I updated my computer, not sure which update (if any) could have caused this problem.

My computer is low on hard drive space. Could the small amount of memory cause both browsers to quit working?When and if you get the laptop working one of your 1st orders of business ought to be to totally remove Norton from your computer. There are far better (and free) anti virus software programs available such as Avira,Avast and AVG. Although it is certainly not prooven (yet) Norton is very invasive and wants to take over any computer it is installed on. Can you access anything via the web? Email for instance? Why is it that your low on HDD space? What is the HDD capacity? You may have to delete some things and reinstall them. However due to your inability to access browsers that may have to wait until you can. What type of internet connection do you have? When you say "updated my computer" what do you mean by that/ truenorthWhen I say that I updated my computer I mean that when I got back on-line (at the library) after not having Internet for a couple of months, the first thing I did was install whatever updates popped up. It was a couple months ago that this occurred, so I may not remember correctly, but I think it updated the antivirus software and maybe the filtering software as well. I'm not sure if there were any other updates at that time. After this process was complete, and I restarted the computer, the browsers didn't work. So I gave up trying to use the library's wireless internet, and went home. Later I got cable internet at home, and at that time Firefox worked well. Then firefox quit working weeks later.
The laptop is connected to the internet, however. I know because SafeEyes is able to connect. I only use Yahoo email, so I can't check that on the laptop without a browser.
The computer is low on HDD space because I started saving pictures, short video clips of my daughter, and lots of audio recordings on the computer, before I realized that the hard drive was too small for all of that. It is 37.2 GB, and it has 5.43 GB of free space, MAINLY because I've been moving a lot of stuff to an external hard drive. Before I got the external drive, there was virtually no free space left.
Your 1st task should be to start burning those pics and vid clips to CD/DVD's...
Windows needs approx. 15% Free space to run properly...I'll work on freeing up more space. Is there any advantage of burning the pictures to CD rather than just saving them on the external hard drive?
I finally found a way to access the Internet on the laptop. I right-clicked the Start button, then clicked Explore, then the Search button, then "search the Internet." From there I was able to download Firefox and reinstall it.
Now Firefox works, but IE still cannot be opened by clicking the icon. I don't like to use IE anyway, but if anyone knows why the icon doesn't work, I'd certainly like to know. No the choice of where you put your large video /audio files is not relevant to an ongoing issue of not enough HDD space. However often when a transfer is done to an external device they are still retained on the HDD--so make sure once you are satisfied that they indeed do exist on the other device,then delete them from your HDD. The only advantage (and not inconsequential to the choice ) is the vulnerability of these prescious files. A CD/DVD disc is more secure than external HDD's or flash drives as they too are subject to sudden an catastrophic failure. Personal experience known on this subject.Now that you have restored a browser connection you can probably solve your IE issue by simply upgrading the IE software to a higher level if you want to be able to access that browser. However if it is just to have an alternative to Firefox there are others such as Opera that are free to install. I use Opera and am very satisfied with it. Chrome is another. It may be that your current shortcut icon is no longer associated with the IE browser. You could create another (2) shortcut and see if it works--if it does delete the other one. truenorthYes, I just wanted an alternative to Firefox in case Firefox ever quits working again. Thanks for the warning about the external hard drive; I will start burning the important stuff to CD again. I usually have the pictures saved on Snapfish, too.
How do I create another shortcut that will actually work? As I said, when I doubleclick on the IE icon, another IE icon appears on the screen. When I click on the new shortcut, yet another icon pops up. This could go on indefinitely. I do not know which method you are trying to use to access IE. A sure fire way that should work is to hold your mouse cursor over the "start" and chose "all programs". If IE is installed it will appear in the list as "internet explorer" click on it from there. It should open.Once you have successfully opened it via that method you can right click on the open web site and make a desktop shortcut that when used from then on will open that precise page. However once open you can insert the URL for any web address and click on "enter" from your keyboard and AWAY you go. Also the IE access option (once done from start/programs) will appear in the open window on the left hand side of that window and can be clicked on from there also. The list of programs in that left hand window reflect your most recent utilization's of programs. My suggestion to upgrade your version of IE was based on a nonfunctioning current version and an upgrade will overwrite that version and should eliminate the problem of access. What version of IE have you currently installed?truenorthFirefox: Go into "tools > options > Advance > settings" in the settings page make sure that the "Direct connect to the internet" is ticked.

IE7: Go into "tools > internet options > connections > Lan settings" make sure all the boxes are NOT ticked. Re-start your browsers to access the internet. Also make sure in IE7 that the "work off line" is not ticked.
Thanks to all who replied to my question. Both browsers now work!