Search: Home Bugtraq Vulnerabilities Mailing Lists Jobs Tools Beta Programs
Time to Dump Internet Explorer
Scott Granneman, 2004-06-17

It's time to tell our users, our clients, our associates, our families, and our friends to abandon Internet Explorer.

Comments Mode:
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
Anonymous (6 replies)
Ive been saying the same thing for years. I work as a Network Administrator, and the very first thing I do when configuring new machines (well windows boxes anyway) is to dump IE, and download Netscape and Netscape Mail.

I have yet to try Firefox but i have used Mozilla Thunderbird as an email c...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
Anonymous
i read an article on heise.de about a "xpi-install" problem. to see what i mean visit www.xxxtoolbar.com. because most normal users will install without thinking - when will this be "fixed" in firefox?...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Come full circle 2004-06-21
Anonymous (1 replies)
In the nineties, Netscape was *the* browser, but got pushed aside by MS. Now Mozilla's back, thank you very much.

Now if MS could go full circle...back to the insignificant company it once was, we'd all be better off.

MS knows nothing about secuity. Their "Trusted Computing" thing is really ju...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Come full circle 2004-06-21
runratrun (2 replies)
Full circle is right, but not in 'the man bytes dawg' sense proponents of one system over any other. Now (again) I will have to start designing/coding dickotomonous websites that pander to the competing architectures, or blander ones that adhere to the agreed standards. The new rat race will be the ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Come full circle 2004-06-22
Anonymous
I disagree. GNU open source standards are a point in case. It IS possible.

Joe...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Come full circle 2004-06-27
Anonymous
Wel, if your website is well disegned, you should not be worry about. But if you had invested few time in designing and the result was a web site accordingly ONLY with the IE standars, well my friend, you have a serious problem, because, even MS, change year after year the IE compatibility.
So, Why...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous (5 replies)
To Whom It May Concern:

Why must people constantly bash Microsoft? If you don't like it use something else. MS did not force anything upon you...you purchased the product. If you like another product use it, but I will bet you that the script kiddies will write viruses and attacks for that pro...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-24
Anonymous
> MS did not force anything upon you...

WRONG.
I was forced to by the laptop I'm using now with M$ Windows XP(loit). No way getting it without, or with a system of my choice. Dont mind that the first thing I did was formatting the HD and installing the system I use.
Yes, I was forced to pay the...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-26
Anonymous
> MS did not force anything upon you...you purchased the product.

I did not. All my machines run Linux, but yet I have to deal with a deluge of spam and viruses every day, almost all of it coming from compromised Windoze machines. Without as much as looking at Billy boy's "products" I have plenty...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-28
Anonymous
I did not make the choice to have IE, it gets forced down my throat by big business who only support IE. Maybe they're the only company fighting anti-trust laws as they are the only one's breaking the laws. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-28
Anonymous
Nobody is bashing here. They are doing just what you suggest; stop using the product, and encourage other to do same....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
The thing is... 2006-07-27
Anonymous (1 replies)
The thing is, the right-now relative unpopularity of other browsers is giving them time to fix security holes. As soon as they are fixed, the big anti-IE booms will start coming. Right now, people are uninterested, but come a few more years, IE will stop being the big bad boy it is now, because it d...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: The thing is... 2006-09-01
Anonymous
Wow. :( Sadly, I had nothing but problems with IE. :( They could fix the troubles if they wanted to. I believe it is a money issue. Maybe they like to budget. :)Good luck to you. And thenks for sticking up for them....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer - but what are the alternatives 2004-06-24
Anonymous (2 replies)
I have been using SlimBrowser for 2 years that uses IE engine but has all the suggested new features on Firefox plus a few more.

I found the following additions in Slimbrowser:
1) Slimbrowser automatically opens a new tab (configurable) when user types a new URL. Need to open a tab first in Fir...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
time to dump bogus arguments (was: but what are the alternatives) 2004-06-28
Anonymous
The things this person said their browser does is doable in Firefox. Plus the "problems" the poster raised just don't exist....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Time to Dump Internet Explorer - but what are the alternatives 2007-08-13
Anonymous
Firefoxbrowser is faster securer and more customisable than IE7 http://freecoolsoftware.blogspot.com/...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-28
Anonymous
ok!that was a good article.i study computer science in greece (athens) and get to spend many hours every day in front of my pc.recently i ve tried to get rid of that annoying IE and i downloaded firefox , netscape navigator and also used and another browser(i actually compiled one in vb ).the thin...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2008-07-16
Anonymous
hi there, just wondering whether network administrator able to browse or read our email (Yahoo, MSN or Gmail) when we are using LAN???...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
brian thomas
Hear, hear! And don't forget that for those who still insist on IE mechanically, there's the masquerade extension that changes the claimed name of the browser.

- a delighted Firefox user....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
Kymer
I have also been successfully and happily using FireFox for six months. My wife and son had a hard time not using IE since it is so in grained; so I renamed FireFox short cut to IE and changed the icon to the blue E. Since then we all have been happy and I don?t have all the security and spyware i...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
tbush
Hurrah! I've been arguing this point at work for a year and am slowly gaining converts. Perhaps your piece will help open more eyes.

btw, in over a year of Firebird/Firefoxing, I've had the program Not Work with only one site: MS itself.

And once I set my users to receive their updates automat...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
Anonymous (1 replies)
Gee...what was that new vulnerability published today? Oh, that's right...a URI Obfuscation Weakness in Mozilla Firefox....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-17
Rick (1 replies)
Know whats funny about that? http://www.osvdb.org/browse.php?c=M&page=6
From the end of page 6 to page 9 is all IE vulnerabilites. Now look up Mozilla.. 4 total.
:D...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-21
Anonymous
Yep, and the important one, the Address bar vulneribility turned out to be fake :-)...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Great article 2004-06-17
Anonymous
I've been using Firefox 0.8 pretty much exclusively for months now, and I have yet to find a site that has forced me to use IE (except for Windows Update.)

I think you're right. It's time to get everyone in the office to switch. I think I can win them over with the pop-up blocking. ;)
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Management 2004-06-17
Anonymous (1 replies)
I am an avid Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, and Galeon user but I am plagued by one particular issue within the organization that I do security work for: browser policy management. This is precisely one of the things that has kept us tied down to IE for so long.

It's shameful that even our management ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Management 2004-06-22
Kevin Nelson (3 replies)
Exactly. Also, at least with Microsoft, there's a bunch of guys working to combat new exploits quickly, and a free way to automatically update ALL of your client machines. I think it is irresponsible to imply that network admins should drop IE and go with an unproven technology that is not easily ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Management 2004-06-23
Anonymous
Because you think you can get support with IE ? Please, tell me where you can submit a bug report to microsoft when IE crash or when your PC is displaying porn because of IE flaws, because I did not find the way to do so (of course you can do it with mozilla/firefox : really easily with the talkbalk...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Management 2004-06-28
Anonymous
The poster said Microsoft has "a bunch of guys working to combat new exploits quickly."

You're joking, right? There are several vulnerabilities that have remained unfixed for significant periods of time.

The various Mozilla teams are constantly updating the code base and are very responsive. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Management 2006-07-27
Anonymous
Firefox is NOT an unproven technology. Neither is Netscape, Opera, even Safari. And some people are dumb enough to use generator code (Well, I'm one of those people, so I shouldn't complain) that usually mucks up the types of browsers that are supported.

And, as told by previous commenters, Mozil...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
You speak the truth... 2004-06-17
Tom
I sent a glowing email to both Discover Card and Washington Mutual about their support for Safari, Apple's browser for OS X, and I got back many "thank yous" and positive reinforcement for my platform of choice. You speak the truth my brother.

As a result, if anyone is looking for a great bank to...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Ray Solomon
Nice article... I totally agree with what you said. I have been trying my best to help people understand this for a long time, but it seems that people refuse to understand because they don't care or they are used to Microsoft's buggy software features and think its normal. I just don't get it. I gu...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Jamal (4 replies)
The best programmers and best people is working to make this browser better and better, and more secure, but there will always be people who want to find security holes into it.

If you think IE is not secure, then you dont believe how many vulnerabillities their is into the other browsers, u neve...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous
I'm sure that's partly true, but a lot of IE's problems come from its security zone model. The whole concept of security zones is fundamentally broken.

You really can't safely use the same program both for managing the local filesystem and for browsing untrusted websites; but Microsoft has backe...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous
Another fundamental flaw with your reasoning Jamal is that almost all the other browsers, at least the ones that have been discussed so far, are open source. That means that the code is free to look at should anybody have the time and could find any vital weaknesses and exploit that way. Instead o...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-20
Anonymous
Well, as many security experts advocate, monoculture is an added security risk. So, why stand by the most popular (aka most targeted) platform?

Yes... as the pun says... the native hasn't to run more than the lion... only more than his mate....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-29
JanR
One of the main problems is the integration of IE into the operating system. This makes it easier to exploit holes in both the OS and browser. Having the same engine controlling both the local zone and internet zone is just plain dangerous. Now that Microsoft wants to embed the browser even deeper...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Lando
About time! LOL I got sooo tired of reading where IE was so much better than Netscape, blah, blah blah... and I kept saying..."how???"

Well, for 8 years or so, I've been using Netscape and sometimes Firefox, and ONLY keep IEck around for those sites that have not 'optimized' their website(s) ;)...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Excellent article, can't agree more... 2004-06-18
James
Will circulate to some of our key IT Support people. The fact that it is coming from such a reputable source, adds a lot of weight to the argument....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Dennis Lloyd (1 replies)
Excellent article, thank you for sharing.

I too am a network security director for several networks and am sick and tired of patching Internet Explorer on a regular basis. It seems as every day has had something to do with IE security vulerabilites and core code flaws.

I have just solidifi...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Removing IE 2004-06-18
Anonymous (1 replies)
Try "XPlite" and "2000lite".
http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html

Keep in mind that a lot of software now relies on IE for doing internal HTML rendering, so you may not be able to remove it completely and still have all your applications work.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Removing IE 2004-06-22
Anonymous
thank you, I have tried XPLite before, although removing IE (under controlled enviroment) did cause some problems. mainly https / http protocol being de-registered/de-associated, although it was not hard to repair.. XPLite DID remove many normally unaccesable "features" of the Windows OS.

Tha...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
murad
Thanks Scott, I've been using Mozilla for a while and use it for everything but do have to switch to IE for surprise surprise...windows updates.......

[ more ]  [ reply ]
No negative comments 2004-06-18
Anonymous
Huh. You just hit the big issue. Next you could write an article about Messenger or Outlook. :)

Just as I read your article one user came to tap my shoulder asking for help with his windows 2000 platform. We did some virus scanning, spybot S&D inspection and found about six different spyware / ad...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
promoting problems 2004-06-18
errtu (1 replies)
People! Stop using Internet Explorer and use Mozilla *drumroll* Phoeniiiiixxxx!!! Yeah!!! Huh? What? Oh, i see .. Use Mozilla FireBiiiiiiirrrrrd!!! Ah .. right. Sooooo .. use Mozilla FireFox !!!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
promoting problems 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I agree with you wholeheartedly. But cut back on the caffeine. :)...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Scott (1 replies)
Well...you'll get that when you're made by a company that is closely scrutinized by millions of "security experts". I'm quite certain that if these same people all used Foxfire, you'd see a reverse list of holes. I'm not going to preach either side on this though as I'm sure both have their holes (I...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox holes vs. IE holes 2004-06-18
Anonymous (1 replies)
IE's position as a trusted operating system component, its ActiveX support, and its thoroughly broken "security zone" model, make it far more of a risk than Firefox, though. Even if Firefox had the same user base as IE, I don't think you'd see as many remote code execution vulnerabilities (which IM...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox holes vs. IE holes 2004-06-18
Scott (2 replies)
It's hard to say. Many of us have joined the general concensus that IE is bad. Some how, and of course any of us could be wrong, I believe that there would be just as many found in many webbrowsers. What I like about Firefox is the fact that its been in production for soooo long that its a general a...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox holes vs. IE holes 2004-06-19
Anonymous
Well Said!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox holes vs. IE holes 2004-06-20
Michele
Consider that the entire backend of Firefox cames from Mozilla directly. Firefox is nothing else that the browser component of Mozilla with a new innovative user interface.

Mozilla exists from many years and it reassumes all the experience in security accumulates by Netscape 6 and 7. This is Fire...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous (3 replies)
While I will not argue the fact that IE has many problems, I will note two things.

1) I use IE at home and at work and have never had any problems with inadvertant spyware being installed and over abundant popups. I think the end user needs to be more educated, not only should they think before ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-20
Anonymous
Point 1 above will never happen. Users don't WANT to be educated. They want things to work and since they pay hard-earned money for it, they expect it to. MSIE doesn't (at least not when presented with 'unexpected input' which is what to expect when you encounter the works of certain belligerent or ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
I switched to MyIE2 2004-06-21
Anonymous (2 replies)
I'd also like to add my own 2 cents worth.

1) I, too, have never been infected with RATs, Keyloggers, Spyware and the like using IE6. Perhaps my NAT router coupled with SyGate blocked them off. The only problems I faced with IE6 was the Popups. Fixed that with MyIE2.

2) There was also this nag...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
I switched to MyIE2 2004-06-23
Anonymous
"4) If you're an admin in a corporate environment and using IE, malware should never have the chance to install at all or "phone home" to the attacker. The user should never have Administrator rights to install anything. So if a malware tries to be funny and install or change some registry setting -...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
I switched to MyIE2 2004-06-28
Anonymous
Well, actually MyIE2 is only a new GUI to the same IE... it has exactly the same bugs... i tried it a long time ago (when i was using windows, now i don't), but i'm sure that if you test Firefox you'll like it. It've got all the MyIE things and lots more, and it's REALLY a new browser, a lot safer.....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-25
Anonymous
I believe the current Mozilla will use NTLM authentication....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous (2 replies)
I used the prototype, Thunderbird, before FireFox came out. It was a really slick program. You just had to run the program from the folder after you downloaded it. (You didn't have to install it).
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Intrinsic
Another of my favourite features of thunderbird/firefox, it is 100% self-contained it doesn't need to hack the registry, it doesn't need 300 million external dll's. I run it off a flash disk at university because I find it much preferable to IE and NS....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2006-07-27
Anonymous
When you say the prototype, I think you mean Firebird, not Thunderbird. Thunderbird is an e-mail client....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Bryan (2 replies)
I absoloutley disagree, yeah Mozilla might have all of these features like the popup blocker and other features, however some of the people responding to this article are networking administrators and should get their Windows updates along with their Antivirus and Firewall updates. And you even said...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-21
Anonymous
Saying that staying on top of all IE patches/hotfixes means that you are safe is like saying the lemmings look before they leap. I cannot even begin to express how naive that statement is. Do you know how many IE vulnerabilities have been reported and not fixed? Look at May's fixes...how many wer...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
just "staying on top of updates" doesn't help 2004-06-28
Daniel Convissor
The poster said you'll be fine if you "stay ontop of the updates." That's just not true. My sister runs Windows Update on a very frequent basis. Her computer got overrun with several pieces of spyware/adware....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Opera is another alternative. 2004-06-18
Lasse Nielsen (2 replies)
Just because I happen to be a happy user of the Opera browser, I'll recommend anyone who wants to ditch IE (which should be everybody, but sadly isn't) to also check out Opera.

I also have Moz FireFox installed, but Opera is my primary browser, and has been for years. It's well worth its price.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Opera is another alternative. 2004-06-18
Anonymous
Opera's biggest advantage, IMHO, is it's FAST FAST FAST. It's the only browser even remotely usable on my 233 MHz laptop. I don't know why it's so much quicker than everything else, but it is.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Opera is another alternative. 2004-06-18
Anonymous
True that! I love Opera! I use Opera as a primary browser, FireFox as a back up, and I use IE as a last resort for those poorly coded sites....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer (and maybe Opera) 2004-06-18
Anonymous (1 replies)
This was an excellent read, especially since I made the decision to dump IE three years ago for many of the same reasons argued here. I had a feeling things were only going to get worse....but I moved to Opera instead. At the time it really was the only other alternative. Netscape was in trouble, an...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Mozilla == crap. 2004-06-20
Anonymous (5 replies)

I've yet to see a version of Mozilla that properly displays the same level of CSS, frames, and tables as IE or especially Opera.

Opera is, quite simply, the most standards-compliant browser on the market. Mozilla has hype because it's "c00l d00d;" open sourced and press released beyond belief. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
css > security 2004-06-21
Brian Keefer
Good to see you have your priorities in order there. Astetics trump security again I see....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Mozilla == crap. 2004-06-22
Anonymous
You're making it very obvious by your comments that you don't really know CSS. Mozilla & Firefox support the CSS standard about 97% of the way; anyone knowledgeable in the area of CSS knows that IE's support for the CSS standard is far worse than Mozilla's, & that Microsoft has introduced proprietar...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Mozilla != crap. 2004-06-22
Anonymous
"IE may be a security nightmare, but at least it displays my CSS correctly"

No it does not.
try http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/complexspiral/glassy.h
tml
for one of the many examples that proves Mozilla is far more CSS-compliant than IE.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Mozilla == crap. 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I'm a web developer and all I can say is that Internet Explorer makes my work hell. I write standards-compliant code, testing in every other browser, and finish up the job by forcing it to work somewhat reasonably in IE....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Mozilla == crap. 2004-06-24
Anonymous
I have yet to come across valid CSS which is rendered correctly in IE and not in Mozilla. Get a clue and your CSS will render just fine. IE doesn't even get the box model right, let alone fancier stuff....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous (1 replies)
Mozilla 1.7 is slow to load pages,cumbersome to use and forever bothering you with profiles, dialogue boxes and etc, so your recommendation of it suprises me. It sucks out loud, for all it's security features, even compared with IE 6. I think I'll just keep updating IE 6 security patches instead. No...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Editor (1 replies)
Can you please re-read the article more carefully next time. Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox are two completely different applications. While they are based on a common engine, Mozilla is indeed slow while Firefox is extremely fast, has a better interface, and is a pleasure to use.

Regards,
Editor...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
Anonymous
"Firefox is extremely fast"

Well, with all due respect I have to disagree with this statement (even though I agree with your article and am not an IE fan at all, but am forced to use it right now since I'm currently on a K6-400 backup machine after my AhlonXP CPU fried/died.
Although I have take...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-18
Anonymous
It is too bad that some of us have to suffer corporate IT departments that are in the pocket of Microsoft.

Our corporote intranet recently switched from "use whatever browser you want" to " You will not use Netscape!!!". Of course (thanks to User Agent Switching) I can still use the Pigs in Spac...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-18
Bipin Gautam [visitbipin-at-hotmail[dot]com (3 replies)
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea...

In the mind of any general users first "Easy/Quick Browsing" comes far before 'security'. Well... it?s hard to migrate to a different browser for a general 'dialup users'... to another browser because; believe it or not, still IE is quit fast tha...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-18
Daley (2 replies)
I have experimented with Firefox on a dial-up and have found that it renders any webpage considerably faster than IE. I recommend using Firefox to all my friends, especially those with dial-up accounts because of this. All of them have found that I was not exaggerating as well.

You're idea abou...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-18
Anonymous (2 replies)
IE compatibility? Is IE a standard? I thought standard was on HTML level? And you could adopt any code to any browser?
I've dropped IE years ago, love Netscape, ok, dead but still.... better than MS (Multiple Sclerosis?)
Regards
Hans...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-19
Anonymous
The plugin you are talking about exists as of version 0.9, it is called something like "open with IE"....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-20
Anonymous
No, IE is not a standard, in fact it doesn't even comply with the W3C standards that MS helped to create. Go figure. Unfortunately a lot of web authors use IE to test a site and adjust the code to make it display correctly in the IE browser, which sometimes has trouble with fully compliant script....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-21
Anonymous (3 replies)
Your post is indicative of how naive you are. Laziness? No. Anyone who can develop for IE can develop for Mozilla/Netscape, etc. The problem isn't laziness, it's cost. Developing a page which is rich in functionality in more than one browser costs money. If I have to write even one additional line o...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-23
Anonymous
You are right about the bitching.

But the billing will never stand up - you state that one line of code would cost too much - how ?
ok you will have to install other browsers on your machine to test with but if you are using a product like Dreamweaver then there is an option to test with othe...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-27
Anonymous
Interesting point about the "cost". I find it interesting that many consultants/contractors/integrators/etc forget the golden rules:

1) Design
2) Design
3) Design
4) Design some more
5) Code
6) Test
7) Test some more
8) Regression and integration test too
9) Go grab a beer

(OK 9...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-28
Daniel Convissor
Okay sure, "developing a page which is rich in functionality in more than one browser costs money." At the same time, programmers who know what they're doing can code universally accessible sites from the start rather than having to write "additional line[s] of code."
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-20
Anonymous
it exists an extension for Firefox that adds "View page in Internet Explorer" links to the content and link context menu.

http://ieview.mozdev.org/
http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?applicatio
n=firefox&id=35&vid=145
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
mmm... dump IE? Firstly: A problem and an idea... 2004-06-22
Intrinsic
Errrrrm Firefox is slow on a dialup connection?!?!?!?! I'm a dialup user and I've never had any trouble with the speed of firefox, actually if I'm browsing sites on which I don't care about the graphics it's a whole lot faster coz I can right-click, block images from this server, yay....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
I try- but they wont listen 2004-06-18
Anonymous
i think firefox is great
open source should be the future
i try to tell folks
but they look at me
like a deer in the headlights
then... WHAM!!!
another bug-worm-virus
not me- Praise the Lord!!!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
R,I,P IE 2004-06-18
rusg81
firefox is such a great browser l've been telling everyone l know about it there all believers know

firefox makes you think this is what a good browser should be like.

secure easy to use easy to custom it

tab browsing , extensions , download manager , no activeX surport , and much more l'm...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
snooker (1 replies)
Hi ... Can i use this article for posting to other sites ??? Would appreciate a quick reply ... Thanks ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-21
Editor
No, I'm afraid you can't. If you repost this article it will be in violation of our copyright. Please email me directly (content-editor@securityfocus.com) if you want more details.

-Editor...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
Anonymous
This is an excellent article, very much to the point. I have been using Fire~ [Firebird, fox and the other animals] for more than a year. I'm not an IT pro, but I'm a very capabler user [install hardware, download freeware, don't use MS Office Suite, etc], and I find that Firefox is not for the fain...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
dear bloveating windbag... 2004-06-19
sniperone
yeah the dreaded:
An identified security issue in Microsoft Data Access Components could allow an attacker to compromise a Windows-based system and take a variety of actions. For example, an attacker could execute code on the system. By installing this update, you help protect your computer. After ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Don't switch to IE - switch bank! 2004-06-19
Anders
I follow a few Unix/Linux newsgroups and mailinglists and found that users that aren't able to use IE (or simply just don't want to) have decided to switch bank, if the banks online system is a IE-only system. Ofcouse they talk to the bank before doing so (some with success), but in the end they swi...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
Angela
I changed to firefox a few months ago and instantly fell in love.With extensions and built in customization I have got everything trimmed down on to one toolbar.It is fast and stable I can not praise it enough....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer - YACAEP 2004-06-19
Anonymous
I've been using Firefox since it was Firebird and Phoenix. I couldn't be more pleased. I ocassionally use Konqueror to fool evilsite.com into thinking I'm running IE.

I have to argue daily with vendors who only support IE. They are often clueless about the fact that other browsers even exist. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-19
Ian L (1 replies)
its pretty easy to claim a product is more secure then IE when that product accounts for probably less then 10% of the market share. Of course there are going to be more holes found in IE if 90% of the browsers are IE. Why would any hacker want to look for holes in something that the vast majority o...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Anonymous (1 replies)
If more bugs are found in IE because more people use it, then why aren't more bugs found in Apache instead of IIS? After all, Apache is at ~70% & IIS is much less.

Well?...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-28
Anonymous
Amen!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-20
p0ke/SiC
w0rd, im trying to get ppl all around to use firefox. IE drives me all dman dnuts with all its damn holes and shit.
Didnt m$ get sued for being to much monopoly with the media player and windows messenger? Hope that thappends to IE also, the world has to see that there is better browsers out there....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-20
Anonymous

Internet Explorer is less a problem when ActiveX and ActiveScripting are disabled. Internet Explorer badly needs an extension manager though, a tool to check and remove all things loaded with IE.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-20
steelersfan88
You really think your poor persuasion tactics would influence an IE user who uses it for all of its features ... not quite.

IE access keys make it simple for editing and debugging a website ... Mozilla's view source is a Mozilla edito, umm, not editor, because one cannot edit. Debugging should b...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-21
FF Fan
Agree 100%. I have used FF for well over a year as well. I have done my part to lead a grassroots effort of FF usage by web developers at work and there hasn't been one of them whom I demo'd it for that did not embrace it both professionally as well as for home use. My wife and kids have had litt...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-21
Anonymous
Wow what a flashback. Last decade you could find articles that ask people to switch all over the net. Netscape was the thing then and when netscape screwed up their browser and the communicator package got so damn huge that you just couldn't download it anymore, people stopped complaining about IE. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox, not a so good browser 2004-06-21
michael.barchy@versateladsl.be (4 replies)
Yes, Firefox looks like a great alternative.
But for Windows users, it may result in loss of certain OS features such as Windows Update. Also, some sites still does not work with Firefox due to code relying on Microsoft HTML/JavaScript specifications. Maybe, Firefox should implement some of the IE ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
How about a boycott of sites that only work on IE... 2004-06-21
Anonymous (1 replies)
If large numbers of users start to boycott sites that do not work with standards compliant browsers, they will change pretty quick unless they are owned by M$. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
How about a boycott of sites that only work on IE... 2004-06-28
Anonymous (1 replies)
yeaah! Go, go, go!
MS have ~95% of browsers and others ~5%. I think that others can boycott sites but it will be only 5% of users.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: How about a boycott of sites that only work on IE... 2006-03-02
Anonymous
yea, you're right... most of the browsers _cloak_ themselfs as IE, and Mozilla or Opera is not an exception...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox, not a so good browser 2004-06-21
Anonymous
As the article states, use IE only when you have to. I still use it for things like Windows Update, but rarely for anything else.

As for getting Firefox to render things similar to the way IE does: bad idea. Internet Explorer doesn't handle certain CSS and JavaScript items according to the W3C s...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox, not a so good browser 2004-06-21
Anonymous
Implement non-IE standard features and start this whole thing all over again? How about you ask Microsoft to not implement non-standard stuff?...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox, not a so good browser 2004-06-22
Intrinsic
No how about M$ starts to actually comply to the w3c standards they helped write???...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-21
Anonymous (3 replies)
I have my doubts as to whether any incarnation of Mozilla can actually be assumed to be any more or any less secure than IE. In all likelyhood, it becomes a temporary haven at best due to it's microscopic market penetration. If you wish to write a good virus, some good malware, or good spyware, you ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-21
steeef (1 replies)
That argument holds about as much water as the "Windows 2000/XP has more exploits than OS X because of numbers" argument.

Sure, numbers may have something to do with it, but so does design. When 2000 and XP start for the first time after installation, all services and ports are open (granted thi...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-22
Anonymous (1 replies)
I will grant that when IE was first created there was little need to be overly concerned with security. Heck, hardly anyone had internet access, unless it was dial-up on a 2400 baud modem. However, since IE 4 at least (and certainly the latest releases of 6) Microsoft has been taking security much m...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-28
Anonymous
"Free solution" you say... tell me where can i download free IE for my system (win, or maybe not)? Anyone? Ohh.. so I need to buy Win and use it to get IE?
It's like free sandwich with every refrigerator bought. Try to get one for free really ;)
And another thing is I agree with you - same type of...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-22
Intrinsic
The biggest problems with IE are the broken security zoning system, and it's integration with the local file system, both of which DON'T EXIST in firefox, granted there are most likely some/many security holes that haven't been found in firefox yet but the point is it is highly likely that they will...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's really just a numbers game. 2004-06-22
Anonymous
This is the a cop-out answer.
Mozilla is open source, so it has the ability to be secured by the community instead of by whatever team MS happens to hire....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Anonymous
first, i must say that i totally aggree with the authur on this subject. however, i would like to take this one step further. i believe that there should be a class action lawsuit brought against microsoft for deceiving the public as well as pushing a poorly coded, buggy, insecure operating system t...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
John Malcolm <johnmalc@rhcf.com>
Whilst the cynical views, that FF will prove just as vulnerable as IE should the masses adopt it, is probably true, this isn't going to happen. Therefore we should carry on trying to get our customers to use what is simply a better browser. We aren't going to change the world, but we can improve the...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Amen to that 2004-06-22
Intrinsic (1 replies)
I have been using mozilla/firefox for the past 9 months, it is by far the best browser I've ever had the pleasure of using, the two best features IMHO are Tabbed Browsing, and Selective Image Blocking, whenever I see an ad banner, right-click block images from this site, the only thing it needs now ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Amen to that 2004-06-23
Anonymous
Selectively blocking flash is here;

http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

Very useful....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer - Is it? Are you sure? 2004-06-22
Jeff H (1 replies)
An interesting article and some interesting feedback too. Both sides have valid points, and for my two cents, I think the key issue in where MS went wrong is to couple IE so tightly with Windows and let it do so much, instead of just being a Web browser.

If IE ran just as a normal browser the sam...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer - Is it? Are you sure? 2004-06-22
Anonymous (1 replies)
The problem is that the single biggest "IE extension" that causes pages to not work in other browsers DOES have a complete W3C approved standard replacement. ANYTHING that you use document.all(xx) for can be done using document.getElementById(xx). And to top it all off, IE 5 and 6 SUPPORT that. Yet,...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer - Is it? Are you sure? 2004-06-23
Jeff H
Well, that's fair enough :). As I said, I'm not a Web developer and couldn't have told you that. It neatly illustrates the lack of education of Web designers as a whole - sure you can blame MS for putting the 'feature' in but someone's got to use it for it be annoying.

What we need to do therefor...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Zero
Hey I am all for firefox, only one stupid problem, using windows it comes with stupid IE integrated, sure we can just ignore it, but not keeping it up to date will kill us all. We need to update it. though not running it will prevent spyware etc. I just wish MS would not integrate it into windows!!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Need to convince Designers It isTime to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Charlie Wertz (1 replies)
I've been using both Mozilla and Firefox/Firebird for quite a while. For general browsing, I keep javascript, java and cookies turned off. I hit quite a few sites that don't work right or don't work at all. If I really want to visit the site, I turn the evil features on. This often works, but not al...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Need to convince Designers It isTime to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I think the real issue here is too many people are using Microsoft tools to generate their web sites, and guess what? The sites don't work well on non-Microsoft browsers!! Gee, how did that happen???

Patrick...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-22
Anonymous
The article was fine, however, it is not even close to being accurate. Linux people used to believe that Windows was bad and they needed to head to a new operating system. People actuallt started to go to Linux. Guess what happened? Once the populatiuon was large enough the kids could get a wahoo fo...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I haven't used IE since I found Opera(3.62); and O 3.62 is better than any ver of IE. Matter of fact IE is one of the first things I rip out of <Win9x os. Yes, it can be done, and it makes Win9x more stable and faster.

For instance, my NEC 266 Pentium notebook runs with no IE, and a lot of othe...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymizer
sure.it's the time to dump it.When yuv got such nice &secure browsers such as mozilla,netscape,opera& so on..You can surely dump it for it's security issues.although it's efficient,When it comes to security,it's nowhere to be seen with secure browsers which are constantly updated such as mozilla....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox V Opera 2004-06-23
damonh (2 replies)
I agree with everything in the article and advise everyone I can to dump IE and use some other browser such as Opera. I have never used Firefox and always use Opera if I can, what are the advantages/disadvantages of Opera V Firefox?...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox V Opera 2004-06-24
Anonymous
There's no easy answer to that question. I prefer Firefox because it's free software, but I guess you'll have to try both of them and decide for yourself....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox V Opera 2004-06-28
Daniel Convissor
I like the feel of Firefox and Mozilla better than Opera. Plus, with my unusual color settings, they render pages better. Plus, "find as you type" and keyboard navigating access keys in web pages is lovely....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I've been telling people not to use IE for years. I prefer and recommend Netscape, only because I haven't tried these other alternatives. Netscape may or may not be as safe and secure as Firefox, but it's surely more secure than IE!

Patrick...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
But you cant uninstall it! 2004-06-23
Anonymous
Not using IE avoids some of the problems, but you can;t uninstall it! So that code is always sitting there available for exploit by any worm that can reach your system, even if you don't actively use IE as a browser.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to dump IE 2004-06-23
TheHornedReaper
Yeah, IE does suck a lot, but what about Mozilla? It only takes a few script kiddies to find an exploit and post it on the web, and there you are, Mozilla is screwed. The only browser that I have found to have very few bugs is AOL. Yeah, I know, AOL sucks, but hey! What would you rather have? A full...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-23
Anonymous (6 replies)
Thesis that IE is a security risk as measured by the number of "security issues" that have been found. By same logic, another browser is more secure because fewer "security issues" have been found.

In reality, the number of "security issues" is not a metric of the security of browser but of popu...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-23
Anonymous
*Applause*

I, personally, am sick of all IE bashing when it is obvious that the popularity of the web is largely a result of Microsoft bundling IE into the OS. Before IE, users were forced to install Netscape Navigator from a disc they had to order, buy, download or get for free from an ISP's ins...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-23
Anonymous (1 replies)
Obviously you enjoy patching this sorry excuse for a browser. No wait, that's your job and you get paid to do it. Imagine if you had nothing to do. Maybe they'll keep you occupied scrubbing the toilets bowls eh?

No other browser out there allows execution of files by visiting web sites unbeknowns...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-23
Anonymous (2 replies)
My point is that I don't have to patch the browser, I have a way to do that automatically.
You are correct that IE can allow files to be executed. If you don't like this behaviour, turn it off. That is a matter of policy and determined by the business need. I can easlily do this on 10,000 mach...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-23
Anonymous (1 replies)
Yes, but you clearly fail to address the lag between updates issue in your rant about IE being just fine and dandy as long as it is patched. That does not hold water when you have to wait a month for a patch. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-23
Anonymous (2 replies)
That and all the zero days cropping up some of which can defeat any setting you try to place Internet Explorer in. But we all forget this is all about the IE guru Kevin Nelson and his piddly 10,000 machines. Now since he is so expert and finds no problem remedying this disasterous browser, let us te...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous (1 replies)
It's about getting the job done. Results matter.

I'm sure you can come up with some reason to bash me over the above statements too.

kn...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous
oh. Well maybe next time Microsoft introduces another bug ridden product they'll provide a NASA thick checklist with it on how to secure it...

or...

provide a neighbour hood watch type street Captain called Kevin Nelson to come a running everytime it breaks so he can fix it. With masterful eas...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous (2 replies)
Again you fools don't get it. YOu claim IE is broken, it's not IE that is to blame but the malware authors that write the code that exploits a weakness that never would have been encountered had they not specifically gone looking for it.

It's just like a gun or a hammer, they are both tools, and ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous
hahahaha...right on brother...your da man.

"exploits a weakness" that's the hole point.

The thing is so weak it cannot even be considered crap. It just does not work. Its a failure, the discarded entrails of something else. Its not a browser. Its a "thing". I've yet to read about adware, scu...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous (1 replies)
Kevin is spot-on. It's so easy to MS-bash and carry the open-source banner until it comes time to actually consider what you end up with. SUS currently makes a well-designed LAN as secure as you are going to get without an army of IT people dedicated to patch management. You will always be well beh...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-24
Anonymous (1 replies)
Thats even better. Here's your new Microsoft bundled software sir. Your browser disk, your office application disk and your patch management disk. That's really really a great seller.

Sir here's your new Ferrari, it comes with Microsoft's new high-spreed tires. In the trunk you will find 4 patch ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-28
Anonymous
You keep missing the point. Even someone like myself that is an open source developer has to realize that once more people start using Firefox then we are going to see a lot of vulnerabilities popping up.

Even the writer admits there are security flaws in Firefox. His problem is that he says ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Lame Response 2004-06-27
Anonymous
Users of something don't want to have to worry about the nasty details. However, the 'experts' and 'caretakers' SHOULD care and be intimately involved with its upkeep.

Imagine if you brought your car into the mechanic (since I know nothing about cars except that they 'go'), and he said...

"We...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-24
Anonymous
* But in order for this to work, I've got to give them administrative privileges on the client machine. THIS IS THE WORST SECURITY RISK!!! *

Ideally, this is true, however ensuring that every user in the enterprise does not have the ability to log on to their workstations with administrative priv...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-24
Anonymous
Same old reasoning. That, strange enough, comes everywere bundled with M$ products. I'm talking about your reasoning that explorer is less secure because it have 90% of userbase share and so malware authors are inclined to find holes in it.
How come that the same is not true when confronting Apache...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Shameful analysis 2004-06-25
Anonymous
Sorry but did u look at Edit-Preferences-Advanced-Software installation-Check for updates?
IE the only who...? the only who allow malware to install by theirself....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
It's not SO shameful 2004-06-29
Daniel Convissor
Kevin, you raise some good points.

Yes, IE's exposure is very large, so more problems will come up. At the same time, Microsoft is incredibly slow about fixing IE. There are several bugs that haven't been fixed in months. Most open source projects I know fix vulenerabilities within days, if no...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Andymous (1 replies)
Well SP2 will solve alot of IE issues & secure windows rather than just a having a browser that you think is secure, but in reality only because the hackers and crackers havnt turned their attention to it!!!.

As well as this so many of the other browsers suffer from compatibily problems, java pr...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-29
Anonymous
You finally noticed the firewall??

Three cheers for observation!

Try your old unpatched XP it has a firewall too :)...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Tabbed Browsing Rules, Tab Browser Extentions Rules Harder! 2004-06-23
ARKiV Keyman
The day i converted to a Firefox user away from being an IE user was quite possibly the greatest moment of my online 'life' (hehe) Firefox offers so much more flexibility in the way you use your browser, everything customizable! If you ever wonder "hmm, i wish Firefox did ______" all you have to do ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous
The point that really hasn't been made, is that everything has bugs. It doesn't matter WHOSE software it is. It doens't matter what hardware it is. It is all built to use TCP/IP protocols. They have bugs.

What is needed is more bug fixing before a product is released. What else? A replaceme...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
fox
I think that the main problem is migration.

An ordinary user will not migrate from IE to Mozilla because he/she got used to the interface - look&feel, shortcuts, menus, etc.

I think that if Firefox is distributed with almost the same interface as IE it'll be easier for ppl to migrate....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Opera Browser, 2004-06-23
Anonymous (1 replies)
Although much has been said on this topic, i haven't seen any other suggestion of browsers! Firefox (and Mozilla itself) are very good choices indeed. However, there are more choices out there, one of them being Opera, .

Opera is a very fast and robust browser! (In my personal experience, it's f...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Opera Browser, 2004-06-23
Anonymous
I agree, I've been a user of Opera since version 2. I've payed for every version since then. I agree originally it was simply to have an alternative to IE, even before I understood anything about the speed and security implications.

In previous versions I'd occaisionally have to open up IE to r...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
The Uninstaller
Well I read the article and went straight to my customer and installed Opera, renamed the Opera icon to Internet Explorer and switched the icon from O to E and all!!!!

Awaiting user response... ;)

Actually the painful bit was going through all the user accounts finding all the icons for IE (th...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous
Yes, but give me the ability to uninstall the wretched browser, and I won't complain about it!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-23
Anonymous (1 replies)
I have seen lots of people try a 3rd party browser but somehow they always go back to IE? I think the same thing would happen in this case, not only that I myself have tried some and the more I try the more I realize what a damn good job m$ is doing. thanks Microsoft :). I cannot belive some of you ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-24
Anonymous
I have switched to Mozilla and it is far better than IE. But some websites cannot be displayed properly in Mozilla, so I cannot dump IE away....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Java on Firefox - problems 2004-06-24
Anonymous (2 replies)
Erm... so i followed your advice and sadly Firefox doesn't appear to want to work with Java 1.4.2_04... Disappointing and surprising! Lets hope they sort this out for 1.0...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Java on Firefox - problems 2004-06-24
Anonymous
It does... read the docs or browse Firefox forum....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Java on Firefox - problems 2004-06-26
Anonymous (1 replies)
I have developed and am developing RMI enabled Applets and have not had problems with the Java Plugin running in Firefox. I have used Firefox 0.6+ (I think...currently I'm using Firefox 0.8) in conjunction with J2SDK 1.4.2 to 1.5 Beta 2.
...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Java on Firefox - problems 2004-06-30
Anonymous
When I tried to enable Mozilla from the Java console in the control panel, I get this message:

Please check that Mozilla is properly installed on the system and/or that you have sufficient permissions to change system settings.

I am signed in as administrator so I know I have privileges. What...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Yeeha! Haven't tried Firefox but Opera's a confirmed winner 2004-06-24
his(underscore)madness(at)presidency(dot)com
The only problem is that I'd like to buy Opera and get rid of the ads because I think they deserve the credit, but you need a credit card... :(

What I like in Opera are the mouse gestures. That way you can put away all the toolbars and buttons and use your screen to the fullest. (I have a 20" fla...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Windows Update, Active X and VBScript 2004-06-24
Mark Geth (1 replies)

Greetings, nice reading about firefox, i've been using it since the old phoenix days, good browser and gets better with every release.

One thing that occurs to me is that, while some argue that they can't use windows update with it, to me it seems that if my operating system needs updating, th...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Windows Update, Active X and VBScript 2004-06-25
Triton
You do not need to visit the Windows Update site in order to update Windows. The best thing to do is to enable Auto Update to automatically download updates.

In order to use the Windows Update site, you need a browser that supports ActiveX control execution.

Triton...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-24
Anonymous
Avantbrowser is so much better than any other browser. Firefox neals down to avantbrowser...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Good, but what about central management? 2004-06-25
Tomas (1 replies)
What about such neat features of IE such as manageability using Group Policies (such as ability to restrict access to local hard drive), MS CryptoAPI support (for plugging in my favourite smart card), ability to change configuration centrally?

We are using Mozilla on some Linux-based internet kio...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Good, but what about central management? 2004-06-28
Daniel Convissor
You have a good point. IE's only advantage is that MS has built tools for the purpose of remote configuration, administration and patching. At the same time, similar behavior can be worked out for any software.

Mozilla's various preference files can be set up by an administrator and then locked...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
First National Bank Idea 2004-06-25
Anonymous
Great article! Here's just a quick idea to build on your re-naming of IE which I use:

Set IE's Internet zone to "Restricted" settings so that absolutely nothing will run in it. Then, set the "Trusted Zone" to medium security settings and manually put any sites that you actually need IE for in...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
All you need to do is disable ACTIVE X 2004-06-25
Anonymous
Could someone show me how I disable active-x w/o disabling Javascript. All I see in my browser is the option
Active Scripting
Disable
Enable
Prompt

Aren't there holes that CAN NOT BE PATCHED, where simply visiting page executes code? (Even disabling all of IE options)Famous copy your clipboar...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Apps that require IE DLLs to run? 2004-06-25
Bill (1 replies)
I'm doing my best not to run IE in our company - still running NT4SP6a. But more and more programs require IE to be installed in order to install. I think they only need a couple DLLs, but MS only allows those DLLs to be installed with IE. (Sample programs - Acrobat Reader 6, Symantec Antivirus C...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Apps that require IE DLLs to run? 2004-06-26
Anonymous
This is my point exactly! If only there was an easy way to remove i.e. leaving the library?s etc that other apps need.
The problem is ie is integrated now a days into applications at a higher level some applications use it internally to display html removing ie would make them useless!

Does anyo...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
WHY IS NETSCAPE 7.1 NEVER MENTIONED? 2004-06-26
Systems Engineer
To All Who Search for a Better Browser,

Internet Explorer is riddled with holes.

Why has no one mentioned the excellent alternative in Netscape 7.1?

After all, Netscape was one of the first browsers ever created -- and had dominance until Microsoft gave away Internet Explorer for FREE.

I...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-27
just a kid (1 replies)
best browser i have is avant, can get at www.avantbrowser.com, you can turn pop ups on and off, and is almost always propmts you for install actions, all the times that ive used it at least. the program is freeware, but im sure a donation would be nice....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-30
Anonymous
It's a shame that Avant Browser uses IE engine and because of that it's also insecure....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Noble, yet unfortunately futile (aka Beta vs. VHS) 2004-06-27
Anonymous (1 replies)
One technology may be superior to the other... and quite obviously. Those of us in the know can speak for hours on the merits of the superior product.

However, you must remember that the vast majority of people choose to buy Beenie Babies over groceries. OK, that is a bit of a stretch, but the ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Noble, yet unfortunately futile (aka Beta vs. VHS) 2006-09-01
Anonymous
Your point? What did you think about switching to firefox instead of Internet Explorer? Please, I'd like to know. I have had so much trouble with IE, I get ill thinking of it. But what about netscape? Isn't it just a good? Thanks for your time....

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Scott, you're violating microsofts' will... 2004-06-28
Anonymous
It clearly stats on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4fc
81b08-b0bb-4306-b031-565bdf9ee54c&DisplayLang=en

YOU MAY NOT PROVIDE THIS UPDATE OR THE LOCATION
(URL) OF THIS UPDATE TO ANY THIRD PARTIES.


tsk!...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Firefox Best Answer? 2004-06-28
Yanc
As for the assessment of IE, couldn't agree more. IE is nothing more than a sophisticated malware delivery tool. But I'm not sure Firefox is the best solution out there. Other than good karma for supporting a descendent (more like a distant cousin, I suppose) of the browser that was supposedly "beat...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2004-06-30
Anonymous
I am using Firefox at Home and at work since 3 months and had absolutly NO PROBLEMS (even with internal buggy application), expect that the way it handle the tabs with the midle button of the mouse is so convenient, that I surf the Net event more, just a great piece of software ( and even so light )...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2006-07-14
Tony G. (2 replies)
I have used and currently use IE 7.0 ----every single person that puts IE down is either an uninformed person or just repeats what they hear---there is nothing wrong with IE---its the people that complain that have the problem---how hard is it to get virus protection that really works---maybe people...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2006-09-09
Anonymous
I agree.:) I would like to know how to get IE 7.0 because I still have IE 6:( and can't seem to find the 7.0 one. ...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Re: Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2008-07-02
Exasperated of Linuxdom
This bloke is a perfect example of why so many Windows machines are compromised, and act as zombies, pumping millions of spam messages into the Internet.

Despite the well-informed technical analyses of the security shortcomings of Internet Explorer, "every single person that puts IE down is eithe...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2007-08-01
shyfemmekat
Thank you, this was very informative. Someone I know online who is in security had told me about Firefox. I trusted him so I downloaded Firefox and began using it but I was curious about why people thought it was better. I am NOT a computer expert in any way and this article was easy to understan...

[ more ]  [ reply ]
Time to Dump Internet Explorer 2009-08-21
Anonymous
I like IE6, I don't want a browser that looks like it came off an Apple. I want just the minimum two little grey bars thats all I need. I do not want an overloaded, bloated browser just because some programmers need to justify their continued employment. I unlock the bars and stack the address windo...

[ more ]  [ reply ]







 

Privacy Statement
Copyright 2009, SecurityFocus