UPDATED: The below content is outdated due to being ancient. This post will stick around to help people get to the new version: Live HTTP Headers Equivalent for IE or Edge 2016



I looove the Live HTTP Headers extension for Firefox. (Yes, I will marry it some day.) It works beautifully and always gives me what I want.

So we have this issue of people experiencing an issue of downloading office files from Vista. From the conversation we know the problem occurs with:

  1. Microsoft Windows XP and Vista
  2. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and 7
  3. Microsoft Office 2007 and maybe 2003

So Firefox is unaffected and behaves as expected (a Microsoft Engineer told us because Firefox is less secure?). The Live HTTP Headers will not help diagnose because Firefox works. Oh… And the solution of “Use Firefox” has been rejected by the affected parties. So, we need an equivalent for MS IE to get our users to install.

There are a couple equivalents for Live HTTP Headers for Internet Explorer:

  1. iehttpheaders has major issues with anti-virus software. I’ve never gotten iehttpheaders to install and or run with McAfee installed (even disabled). I don’t know market share of anti-virus vendors, but I’d bet McAfee is pretty common.
  2. IEWatch is more for web designers and gives way more info than just the headers because it has a broader purpose. Plus its not free. I don’t feel comfortable telling people to install something they are going to have to eventually buy even if they only need it for a couple days.

I don’t think either will meet my needs. 🙁

One of the reasons I want the headers is because I am biased. I trust what the browsers say more than I trust end user recollections. Probably its because I read web logs too much.


4 responses to “Live HTTP Headers Equivalent for IE”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    You might want to use Wireshark or another packet sniffer to do the same.

  2. Ezra S F Avatar

    Thanks for the tip. Packet sniffers are cool, but they capture too much information. I would have to use the display filter to isolate just what LiveHTTPHeaders already just gives me.

    Usually I need barely computer literate people anywhere from 30 to 350 miles away to install, run, and send the data. They can do it with LiveHTTPHeaders. I doubt they could with Wireshark. Good thought.

  3. […] the years, my Live HTTP Headers Equivalent for IE post has pretty consistently gotten a few hits a month. Maybe that is because Google still ranks it […]

  4. […] the years, my Live HTTP Headers Equivalent for IE post has pretty consistently gotten a few hits a month. Maybe that is because Google still ranks it […]

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