Final warning to IE users

[Marcus Telcontar]

I keep a tight PC. I dotn use Flash, or Java. I've got a firewall, I have my router set up specifically with security in mind, I even go ahead and nail XP down much more than needed, security wise. My patches are up to date. I have never had a spyware or virus issue, because of what I'm like.In fact, I have never had a virus get onto a PC I use.

Until today. One site. ONE. I had to use IE to view it. Five minutes later one of my other PC's on my LAN reports it's being attacked by a trojan. This is the first time I have ever had to install a virus scanner on my main PC to find out what was going on. My PC has the first ever virus, thanks to IE opening up a hole the size of a truck and allowing the trojan to infect.

result - The supplier has been told I'm refusing to deal with them, until they clean their machines up and allow firefox. And now I spend half hour cleaning up. And throwing a hissy fit. And a new rule, I will refuse point blank to deal with anyone insisting on IE for anything. and the continued migration of all my clients off IE and Office will continue much quicker.

Second result - Anyone online stating they have IE and askign for help is goign to get pillored. In fact, if they use IE at all. Isnt the warnings enough? Hasnt there been enough coverage on how IE toasts your system? What has to be done to make people realise IE is evil?

On a positive note, 64bit PC's look yummy.

[Titus]

And the moral of the story is... if someone says that you need IE to view their stuff tell them to jump a fence.

[Darth007]

Yeah I hate that, some sites need IE to run a certain program or whatever, but I have to ask myself if its worth it. Good Ol' Firebird.

[Ryan Pode]

Deep Freeze (http://www.deepfreezeusa.com/)

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Ryan Pode
Deep Freeze (http://www.deepfreezeusa.com/)

There is no need for that rubbish.

[Morgan Evanar]

Pode, I don't think you're understanding the problem at all.

[Ryan Pode]

I thought he was talking about his work. As he is (or so I thought) a network admin, but its for private use, oops. Otherwise, Deep Freeze is very useful.

[Marcus Telcontar]

No, it is a total and utter waste of time. My professional opinion is a good deal more vitriolic. Such programs do not work as advertised and even worse, if a trojan makes it into the back up image you are screwed. And more to the point, if you are a halfway competent netowrk admin, you know how to do that without any 3rd party software.

[Morgan Evanar]

^that is pretty much true.

[Alana Stormcloud]

Can you delete IE or will it mess up your puter to do that? I use mozilla as my browser and I find IE is a mess to use. Before I got Mozilla I used IE and I had a ton of probs >.<

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Alana Stormcloud
Can you delete IE or will it mess up your puter to do that? I use mozilla as my browser and I find IE is a mess to use. Before I got Mozilla I used IE and I had a ton of probs >.<

win98lite for 98 users. Just delete the icons and ignore it for XP users.

[Alana Stormcloud]

K thankie :)

[Silus Xilarian]

IE is the devil. Ive got about 90% of my friends and family away from it. The other 10% are below my pity, and I shall laugh when their computer goes stupid.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Silus Xilarian
IE is the devil. Ive got about 90% of my friends and family away from it. The other 10% are below my pity, and I shall laugh when their computer goes stupid.

I tend to carry around a CD with the latest Firefox version on it. Install, then redirect icons to open Firefox instead of IE. So, most of the time the users dont know better. I've got a lil old lady of 87 using it! Really, there's just no excuse using IE at all.

[Ishan Shade]

Originally posted by Silus Xilarian
IE is the devil. Ive got about 90% of my friends and family away from it. The other 10% are below my pity, and I shall laugh when their computer goes stupid.

I heard that. Firefox is my savior. I couldn't even imagine going back to using IE.

[Ryla Relvinian]

Maybe this business has something do do with the fact that now, I get random popup windows, my browser keeps being reset to some strange homepage, and everything is, in general, mucked up.

Oh yeah, I use IE. :( Can anything be saved???

[Figrin D'an]

You've got a spyware/adware issue, Ryla. Empty your cookies folder and cache for IE, and just quit using it... period. Run Ad-Aware 6, get rid of the crap, and get yourself another web browser.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Maybe this business has something do do with the fact that now, I get random popup windows, my browser keeps being reset to some strange homepage, and everything is, in general, mucked up.

Oddly enough, that's exactly what happened to me yesterday, and it took me almost an hour of meddling before I figured out how to do exactly what Figrin just said. On the plus side, it finally got the rest of my family using Mozilla...:D

[Ryla Relvinian]

So... If I stop using IE, how do I get another browser?

[Crystal]

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.8/FirefoxSetup-0.8.exe

[Morgan Evanar]

You use it one last time to go to mozilla.org

[Ryla Relvinian]

Ahhhhhh I feel so cleeeeeeean, so dewy fresh. ;)

That is all.

[Darth007]

get AVG Anti Virus, dunno the link but i got it from Marcus. I use it with Ad Aware and have no popups anymore.

[Navaria Tarkin]

I had the same problem as Ryla.. not anymore.. wo0t! :: glad she read this thread ::

[Marcus Telcontar]

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php is for AVG anti virus. If you feel like paying for a AV, Norton is what I'd use.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

I only use internet explorer to play yahoo games. I can't seem to get firefox to work on them.

I'd assume yahoo is safe site to browse though.

[Marcus Telcontar]

'd assume yahoo is safe site to browse though.

You assume wrong. The banner ads can be poison. Post your problem on Yahoo and lets see if we can solve it

[Azhure Darkstone]

My computer only has IE on it, and almost everything on this PC is illegal. If IE is so bad, what do you recommend? where do I get it without having to pay dosh? *yes I'm a cheap scape*

[Keerrourri Feessaarro]

Firefox is free.

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by Keerrourri Sarrtarroa
Firefox is free. Not only is it free, you can re-write the browser if you have that sort of skill.

[ReaperFett]

Az, I don't think anyone here has actually paid for a browser. May be wrong, but I think they're all free.


Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Not only is it free, you can re-write the browser if you have that sort of skill.
Does that make it less secure? I don't know much, but I know people having the source for Half Life 2 delayed it's release.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I would imagine if I tried to re-write it it would break. Which is why he said "if you have that sort of skill" so that should mean you wouldn't make it any less secure.

Unless you want to write a big hole into the programming.

[Titus]

Does that make it less secure? I don't know much, but I know people having the source for Half Life 2 delayed it's release.

The source code is available for anyone to download and modify. This is different from HL2, as that was stolen/leaked. Mozilla code has always been freely available, that's how they fix bugs and make it better.

[Azhure Darkstone]

Hmm. Might try Mozilla on a rainy day then - or when IE starts stuffing up. It's been nice to me in the last few years.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Azhure Darkstone
Hmm. Might try Mozilla on a rainy day then - or when IE starts stuffing up. It's been nice to me in the last few years.

No it hasn't. Believe me, if IE hasnt screwed your PC over, you have been lucky. Dont press your luck, convert now before it's too late.

[Sith Ahnk]

Originally posted by Marcus Elessar
No it hasn't. Believe me, if IE hasnt screwed your PC over, you have been lucky. Dont press your luck, convert now before it's too late.

Hard sell. You a paid representative?

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
Az, I don't think anyone here has actually paid for a browser. May be wrong, but I think they're all free.


Does that make it less secure? I don't know much, but I know people having the source for Half Life 2 delayed it's release. Fett, I'd apreciate it if you stopped commenting about matters you have seem to have no clue about. It would be one thing if the topic was comics, but its not. PLEASE stay out of tech help threads, because you have a history of proffering dangerous advice.

[Morgan Evanar]

Hard sell. You a paid representative? The less people that use IE the easier our jobs become.

[ReaperFett]

Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Fett, I'd apreciate it if you stopped commenting about matters you have seem to have no clue about. It would be one thing if the topic was comics, but its not. PLEASE stay out of tech help threads, because you have a history of proffering dangerous advice.
Commenting? It was a question! Unless you mean me telling someone that the browsers you all reccomend are free.

[Morgan Evanar]

-_- why do I even bother.

[ReaperFett]

Seriously, hand on heart, I was asking because I wanted to know. Nothing else. Titus seems to have answered me (thanks btw).

[Titus]

No problem. As to your statement of all browsers being free, the only one I can think of that costs money would be the paid version of Opera.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Hard sell. You a paid representative?

Because I'm sick of dealing with the crap IE problems cause?

[imported_Firebird1]

Names of Browsers to put into Google to find places to Download.

Mozilla
Firefox
Opera


And I'm sure you can find a few more by just using Internet Browser as a search term.

[Nieheine]

maybe Ive just been lucky.