Timeout ...

IE has some problems with e.g. javascripts, where it is loading a page forever without ever timing out. To prevent your test runs from hanging, e.g. create a function for opening URLs:

def openURL url

   begin

      Timeout::timeout(60) do
         $ie.goto url
      end

   rescue Timeout::Error

      puts "Timeout occured! Continuing ..."

   end 

end