Version

Argent Defender 9.5A-0904-T4 and below

Date

2 July 2009

Summary

Argent Defender is unable to record RTP Sessions or play recorded scripts on a machine with Internet Explorer 8 installed.

Technical Background

Internet Explorer 8 introduced a new feature where each browser tab has its own process.

By default, IE8 will start with two instances of IEXPLORER.EXE (one for the frame, one for the tab).

The number of processes increases as needed based on the amount of available RAM, the number of tabs, the integrity levels for tabs, and the number of distinct IE sessions.

Argent Defender uses command line parameters to pass information to the IE instance. The Argent Defender Recorder BHO (Browser Helper Object) parses the parameters, then controls the IE instance to do the work.

In IE8, the frame IE process (mother) does not load the BHO DLLs by design, so the command line parameters are ignored.

The tab IE process (daughter) loads the BHO DLLs, but the command line is internally created by the frame IE process (mother). So Argent Defender cannot assume control in this instance either.

Resolution

Fortunately, IE8 can be configured to behave like previous browsers by editing a registry setting.

In this case, tabs and frames run would run within the same process, which is the same as IE7.

Customers can take one of following steps to correct the issue:

1. Upgrade to Argent Defender to 9.5A-0901-T5 or later. The registry is adjusted automatically.

2. Logon as the Argent Defender service account, and manually create a registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main – TabProcGrowth

Set the DWORD value to 0.

Customers may need to do the same for their normal logon account if they record and test scripts using their normal logon account.