[F8] Instability of Internet Explorer when Flash movie loads files externally

Hello,

I ran into a weird problem, and I was wondering if anyone else had the same problem.

Here is the scenario: You have a web page, in pure html or flash, and there is a link on this page to another page that pops up in a new window, contains a Flash movie and loads some files externally. For example, the first page can be a gallery of thumbnails of some images, and the second page can be a Flash movie that displays a slideshow of the images that you selected on the first page.

Here is the problem I'm having: If you are using Internet Explorer (v6 or v7, does not matter), and if you close the second page before the external files load into the Flash movie, and if you repeat that a number of times, Internet Explorer starts not loading the second page at all. It just keeps loading forever and ever. Furthermore, the first page won't refresh, either. You have to close the windows and start all over again to reset Internet Explorer. I'm having this problem only with Internet Explorer. Firefox and Safari work fine.

Example: If you want to see an example case, here is a commercial website where you can experiment yourself. Go to:
http://www.kohls.com/products/produc...=1179525087468
(If that link does not work anymore, just chose any women's wear at www.kohls.com)
click the "Zoom Feature" button.
A second window will popup and a flash movie will do some external file loading. The movie will say "Please wait" while loading the external files. If your connection is very fast and the first file loads before you even see the "Please wait", try zooming into the picture and forcing the Flash movie to load the bigger image. When you see the "Please wait" message, close the window immediately. Do this several times, and after a while you will see that the second page will start not working. It will load and load and load...

I don't know if it matters, but here are some details about hat I am doing: In my case I'm using a MovieClipLoader to load the external files. I'm loading several external files, and I'm doing so sequentially. I am constrained to open the second page in a new window, because my first page is also in flash, and I don't want the first movie to reset. I use getURL with javascript to open, resize, and center the popup window. And I pass some variables to the second movie. Even if the first page is in html, and I don't pass any variables, I run into the same problem.

This is really annoying, because it limits the usage of the external file loading capabilities of Flash.

Did anybody else run into this problem? This looks like an Explorer problem more than a Flash problem, but is there a way to avoid it? Something you can do in the ActionScript?