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“Whoops!” error

Check MSN Games System requirements

Before installing software, please make sure that your computer meets the MSN Games system requirements list.

MSN Games System Requirements

Use an account with Administrator rights

To install game software on a Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Vista™ computer, you need to sign into the computer with an account that allows you to make system changes in order to install game software. If you are signed in with a Restricted user account, you will not see the Yellow bar on Windows XP or Windows Vista systems.

Turn off pop-up blockers

Pop-up blockers will prevent game software from installing. Please disable pop-up blockers by following these steps.

Step 1

Open Internet Explorer.

Step 2

On the Tools menu, point to Pop-up Blocker. Click “Turn off Pop-up Blocker” if this option is available to turn of this feature.

Step 3

Next, if you have Norton Internet Security™ software installed, you may have also installed the browser toolbar.  By the Norton Internet Security™ toolbar, click the drop down menu arrow. If “Block pop-ups on this site” is checked, click to uncheck it.

Step 4

If you have the Yahoo!® Toolbar installed, click the Pop-up Blocker icon and click to uncheck “Enable Pop-up Blocker.”

Step 5

If you have the Google™ Toolbar installed, click the Pop-up Blocker icon to enable pop-ups. (Pop-ups will be disabled if the red circle with a line through it appears on the icon.)

Step 6

If you are using any other Internet security software that may prevent pop-ups from loading, view that software’s help file to learn how to enable pop-ups.

Click the yellow bar (ActiveX control installer) for Windows XP or Windows Vista computer systems

Windows XP and Windows Vista have added security features which require you to click the yellow bar to install ActiveX controls. For step-by-step instructions and screenshots of this bar, view the articles below.

View screenshots of yellow bar in free single-player online game

View screenshots of yellow bar for a multiplayer game

Disable Internet accelerators for a Dial-up connection

If you are using an accelerator program to improve the speed of your connection, you may not be able to play on our site. You will need to disable this feature or set the program to use no acceleration if you cannot load a game.

Enable browser settings to install software

To install game software, certain settings need to be enabled in Internet options, including cookies and ActiveX controls. To enable these settings, follow the steps below. (Do not skip these steps, as the steps will reset your system to default settings.)

Step 1

Close all open Windows. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel. In Windows XP, click Start and then Control Panel.

If the Control Panel window is empty, click View all Control Panel Options in the left section of the window to show all the icons.

Step 2

Double-click Internet Options. In Windows XP, you may need to click the Network and Internet Connections icon before clicking Internet Options.

Step 3

Click the Security tab.

Step 4

In the “Security level for this zone” section, click Custom Level to open Security Settings.

Step 5

In the “Reset custom setting” section, change the “Reset to” option to Medium or Medium-low.

Step 6

Click Reset.

Step 7

Click OK to close the Security Settings window.

Step 8

Click Apply.

Step 9

In the “Select a Web content zone to specify security settings,” click the Restricted Sites icon and then Sites.

Step 10

Under Managed Web sites, locate the “zone.msn.com,” “msn.com,” or “zone.com” domain. Highlight the site and click Remove. Repeat this step for “live.com” and “passport.net.”

Step 11

Once these sites are removed or if this box is empty, click OK.

Step 12

Click the General tab in Internet Options.

Step13

In Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Cookies and then OK.

Step 14

Next, click Delete Files and then OK.

Step 15

Click OK to close Internet Options.

Step 16

Go to http://games.msn.com

Step 17

Now try playing the game again.

If you have tried the steps in the above article without success, please help us obtain the information we will need to further investigate this issue by going to the link below.

"Whoops!" error MSN Games forum post