Stupid Internet Explorer!

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:23 am

Here's an interesting idiosynchrosy... If I shut down IE (accidently) while browsing the board, when I come back all the posts are marked as "read"! So I can't see which ones I haven't read yet!

MikeD0106 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:38 am

That's weird... I wonder why it does that. I have been using Firefox for the last few months and like it a lot. It's a little different, but now that I have the hang of it I open a bunch of tabs in one window and not clutter my desktop.

SethX9 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:03 am

Quote:

Here's an interesting idiosynchrosy

That has NOTHING to do with IE. That is the board keeping track of when you last logged in.

jpzkj · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:55 am

Why are you still using IE ? Try Firefox...its faster and more secure and best yet...it's not MS.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

corwyyn · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:43 am

jpzkj wrote:

Why are you still using IE ? Try Firefox...its faster and more secure and best yet...it's not MS.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

That right there is enough for me to use it

I just wish I could get my iPaq to sync with Thunderbird

Liberator84 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:02 am

I find Firefox alittle slower ... but then again it is more secure.

~JUD

NHLiberty · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:05 am

sometimes when I'm reading my "unread" posts - I'll reply to something - and the try to go back to the list of unread posts and there won't be anything there! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

auggy · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:09 pm

Firefox is a pain though .. You have to download and install too many plugins just to be able to normal things on the web.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:51 pm

auggy wrote:

Firefox is a pain though .. You have to download and install too many plugins just to be able to normal things on the web.

Those "normal things" (shockwave, flash, activeX, java) are the things that get IE infested with so much spyware and etc.

IE needs all of those things, too, they just include them with the OS so they can muscle the market share.

There are some really nice features in firefox that once you get used to, you can't live without. Tabs are key. The search box up top that lets you pick where to search. The AdBlock plugin that lets you right click and stop any advertisement (including irritating flash)

SethX9 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:17 pm

Quote:

Those "normal things" (shockwave, flash, activeX, java) are the things that get IE infested with so much spyware and etc.

No, no, no....stupid lazy people who click on things not knowing exactly what they are and agree to EULAs w/out reading what they install and opening up the cute animated whatsit that appears to have been emailed to them by their friend and browsing porn and warez sites with no firewall..THAT is what gets computers infected. Stupidity and laziness.

dirtykj · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:09 pm

SethX9 wrote:

No, no, no....stupid lazy people who click on things not knowing exactly what they are and agree to EULAs w/out reading what they install and opening up the cute animated whatsit that appears to have been emailed to them by their friend and browsing porn and warez sites with no firewall..THAT is what gets computers infected. Stupidity and laziness.

Seth, you seem to have no recollection of a whole CLASS of baddies that do not need to be clicked on to infect your Windoze operating system.

Here's one example:

http://news.com.com/Researchers+warn+of+infectious+Web+sites/2100-7349_3-5247187.html

This is old news, of course, but it just goes to show that if you rely on the mentality that "unless I click on it, I'm not vulnerable", you've got some rethinking to do.

How about this one, vulnerability in JPEG parsing can cause malicious code execution:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support/browse_thread/thread/d44d74764a2d018f/d75618ce15990cbe?lnk=st&q=windows+jpeg+picture+virus&rnum=1&hl=en#d75618ce15990cbe

Just by looking at a specially crafted picture can cause infection on your computer because you happen to use IE and all that that implies.

crdawg · **Joined:** Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:55 pm **Posts:** 98

more people are using foxfire and other source browers,now i am seeing all the nasty things that plague explorer are starting to migrate over as more people get use to them.thanks Chris

skrracing · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:38 pm

I tried using the Foxfart stuff and felt it was stupid and look very old school. I think I will stick with my stupid IE...Never had any problems at all. Later...Clint

KJLoKi · **Joined:** Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:39 am **Posts:** 51

Slackware (Linux) + Firefox +Thunderbird = Happiness (for me anyway!)
...and NO extra crap installing itself w/out my knowledge.

-Lance

dirtykj · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:33 am

skrracing wrote:

I tried using the Foxfart stuff and felt it was stupid and look very old school. I think I will stick with my stupid IE...Never had any problems at all. Later...Clint

Yeah, except you can't see my avatar

Seriously, if you use IE/Windoze, you've got to be sure to clean it thoroughly every now and then. We're talking Spybots S&D, registry cleaning, virus scanning, etc.

speleorelic · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:32 am

Quote:

No, no, no....stupid lazy people who click on things not knowing exactly what they are and agree to EULAs w/out reading what they install and opening up the cute animated whatsit that appears to have been emailed to them by their friend and browsing porn and warez sites with no firewall..THAT is what gets computers infected. Stupidity and laziness.

I'm having a hard time understanding this.

So, if a person doesn't know what you know,, that makes them stupid and lazy?

I would agree that the world has many stupid and lazy people. But I doubt that you can identify them by the amount of computer knowledge they've attained. There are other ways to identify a person with less than adequate intellegence. Some of the smartest people I know have never touched a computer, much less know what a EULA is and does. I think throwing insults around without knowing who you are throwing them at, nor their level of intelligence, would be the first indicator. I believe that we can all communicate on this forum without offending anyone. And, correct me if I am wrong,,, but didn't you learn about all these pitfalls of the web but clicking harmful stuff???

SethX9 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:54 am

Quote:

So, if a person doesn't know what you know,, that makes them stupid and lazy?

No, but if a person is told over and over and over again by everyone from the office nerd to local news anchors that opening email attachments (for instance) without knowing for sure what they are is an invitation to viruses and after they click on the flash attachment their buddy sent them and their computer becomes infected they then blame Microsoft....that is stupid. I wasnt' commenting on anyone's computer knowledge. I was commenting on the foolish disregard of free and rampant advice (stupid) and the lack of pre-emptive measures like anti-virus software, firewalls, etc. (lazy).

And I'll bet that any of the smartest people you know who've "never touched a computer" would, very quickly after first touch, take heed of the overwhelming amount of free information regarding how to avoid viruses and trojans and take heed.

Here's an analogy: Imagine someone who bought their first 4WD vehicle and, without talking to other enthusiasts or even reading the owner's manual, immediately went crashing through the woods at on-road speeds. Now imagine that same person complaining that their car sucked because it broke. That would be stupid.

So thanks for trying to take the high road but I didn't insult anyone person. I pointed out what I believe is the real reason for the vast majority of security woes regarding web browsers. So perhaps I should've used the word 'ignorant' instead of 'stupid'. That was stupid of me.

Quote:

And, correct me if I am wrong,,, but didn't you learn about all these pitfalls of the web but clicking harmful stuff?

Stand corrected. I learned about all these pitfalls by reading tons and heeding the advice of those around me who knew more than me.

btw - a EULA is an End User Licensing Agreement and almost everytime you install software you click on one. All the text that most people ignore says what exactly is being installed when you click the 'I Agree' button and it is very common for trojans and spyware to be attached to some other harmless appliction. The user clicks 'I Agree' without reading the EULA and, poof, you've just agreed to let the spyware be installed.

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:21 am

at this thread

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:47 am

As much as I want to just blame the end user when spyware / adware gets installed on their PC, sometimes it just happens even when you're cautious. I've found things installed on my OWN pc before (work windows laptop). I hardly use it, and I certainly don't go clicking "install that awesome toolbar now", "I want extra smilies" or "sure, go ahead and scan my registry for problems". For people who are less attentive than I, firefox (or standard mozilla) is a good way to reduce those types of things. If popups don't come up, bad ActiveX doesn't install, etc, bad things don't happen. Built-in popup blocking, you can make it so javascript can't resize/move windows, you can block flash, block site-by-site.

With regard to speed, I've had the opposite reaction from people. Side-by-side comparison for them showed that firefox was more responsive and loaded pages faster. It takes a little longer for the *browser* to load, but that's because internet exploder is always loaded, as windows exploder.

The real way to make sure you don't get spyware is to install linux. Sure there will eventually be as many nasty programs for linux if the popularity keeps climbing, but the community is there to prevent it from getting out of hand, and for now I'm free. I haven't had to run spybot / adaware / hijackthis in a long time.

Oh, and don't get me started on PNG transparency. Why is it that an open-source community-supported browser has the time and resources to correctly handle alpha transparency of PNG images, but a multimillion dollar conglomorate like microsoft can't do it?

skrracing · **Posted:** Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:51 pm

OK I am trying to use Foxfart again...again still no likey... very slow still dont see dirtykjs avatar, very clumsy to use just like the older version and still have to keep adding all those stupid downloads.

Give me one address and lets get them all updated at once. Sorry i just really dont see the appeal in Foxfart. Sorry I just have to call it Foxfart cause it dang sure dont move like no fire...more like some slow fox fart...

I will run it a week or so just to see if it grows on me...but I have use it in the past and did not care for it then either.

Stupid internet. later...Clint

Stupid Internet Explorer!

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