Nov 19, 2010

A Microsoft Plot?

We are having problems at my firm in filing appeals online. We are told that our "Session has expired." This problem started on Tuesday. This problem is not affecting everyone. It seems to be a problem only for those who use Firefox as their web browser. Those who use Internet Explorer seem to be okay. This comes on top of suggestions that part of the recent problems that we and others have experienced in using Social Security's online access to client files has been related to using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Yes, the workaround is obvious. No, I don't literally think there is a Microsoft plot. I think it is likely that some contractor at Social Security has made the bone-headed mistake of thinking that everyone uses Internet Explorer. For a government agency to insist that the public use only one web browser in dealing with the agency would be inappropriate.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Inappropriate, yes. But also entirely likely. SSA's been in Microsoft's pocket for years now.

Anonymous said...

Can you try using the IE emulation in the Firefox browser? (which, again, does nothing for Mac users)

Anonymous said...

we are experiencing the same problem and we use IE. SSA area director's office told me it was due to increased volume and to "be patient."

N James said...

We had the same problem in our office, using IE. The fix is to go to Tools, select Internet Options, and delete history- all. Record any stored passwords that auto-fill for you before doing this because they will be deleted.