a warning to all IE users....

Today I ventured into IE to visit a site quickly, and was hit almost instantly with at least 2 pieces of software that installed themselves, probably more. I didn't even know they were installing. Then they pretended to be legitimate programs, after they had downloaded and installed themselves without me knowing. I urge all of you that are still running IE to get an alternative browser.

 

I went to Firefox after the big push on it in the Software forum a few weeks ago. Works well.

 

I don't use IE unless I am updating the OS. Praytell, what site were you visiting?

 

I've never had a program install itself and run without my knowing it, in IE or anything else. Perhaps it was an update to something (such as Flash) that you'd already set it to accept from as a trusted site?

Security settings are your friend.

 

There are a couple of malicious exploits out there these days that attack websites rather than users, then install crap directly when you visit the sites. Since these are NOT intentionally malicious sites, and may be sites that you visit normally, you won't expect them to be unsafe. IIRC there are two vulnerabilities in IE that they make use of. One has been patched and one has NOT. So surfing with a different browser is a good idea.

 

I was on FTPplanet.com, looking for a free version of WS_FTP, unfortunately there are no free versions

The hole in IE allows it to download crapware no matter what site you're on. You could be on windows update and installing junk without knowing...

 

Curiously Flea, what version of IE and do you have anything such as SpywareBlaster and/or SpywareGuard or other protection, e.g., hosts file?

 

norton, spybot, adaware... but norton is soon to go because its 42 minute scan time angers me... I had spybot lock my hosts file so nothing screws with that.

 

I also am behind a hardware firewall.

 

You didn't get anything that you know of at least

*evil laugh*

 

The exploits all use known vulnerabilities in IE. Using a browser that's separate from IE you're not vulnerable to those.

 

Since I use AOL (lolol ) Am I vulnerable to it?

I never use IE.

 

Probably vulnerable, as AFAIK AOL browser is still built on the IE browser; basically just a facelift.

 

*sigh* ugh... once again AOL lets me down.

 

I would recommend the two I mentioned as well as hosts file that Nick ADSL posts.

I did have Norton automatically pick on a Java trojan (details: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.byteverify.html) whilst I was browsing using MYIE2.

 

SP2 will remedy a lot of this.

Not all, mind you. IE will still be a swiss cheese browser.

SP2 fixes an interesting .png rendering bug I ran into today.

 

Agreed, I loaded SP2 and have worked out a few bugs for me as well...PS Be Carefull if you do too many system restores to differant SP2 modifcations ,,,EATS UP DISK SPACE !!!! please set your capacity for restore info to a managable file size,,,I had to remove almost 10gigs of data by reducing the file size,,,,at first did not know where disk space went to,LOL ,,so be aware,,,In all SP2 is very stable and provides added security,a nice feature for wirless use on laptops in public areas is a new added feature as well ...Glenn

But always use caution with IE will always have faults,,,but feel a bit safer since SP2 install !!!

 

Either I am very lucky or well protected

I do have the sp2 beta installed, IE is all I use and I go to many websites and browse quite a bit

you name it Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French, All over the place I go to

I have yet to catch anything bad???

I run the follwing at least once every 2 weeks

spybot
adaware
pest patrol
Panda
have a firewall
and many other porgrams that should detect something if anything was wrong

 

I know this has nothing to do with IE

But I think I just blinded myself by changing the brightness of my screen to %100

*blinks*


GAH

 

There used to be a free version...I had it on this machine a couple of years ago, but decided I no longer needed it.

 

i have my ie set up not to download anything unless i tell it to, and i have spyware/antivir ware running just incase... i've never had a problem with it really... im also to lazy to fix it, considering my computer just got back and recovering from withrawl is a real biznatch

 

I know... i had the installer, but somehow they crippled it when they decided to yank support for it, so i can't install it.

 

Wenche i too am sticking with IE simply because i'm used to it, comfortable with it, and don't want to install a new browser... what settings are you talking about when you say that it won't install anything without you allowing it to?

i'm running:

Avast Antivirus
Sygate Personal Firewall
Lavasoft Adaware
Spybot Search & Destroy
Spyware Blaster

 

Sp2

OK-- this is a totally, "How do you not know this?" question but...
How does one get SP2? Buy it? Download it? I have SP1 of course so...

Yeah, yeah, it's a "tangent" but YOU brought it up and it RELATES...I've never had anything THAT I KNOW of install itself

You guys are scaring me.

 

ok hear is a really dumb question. if you do not use IE, than what do you use? like i said dumb question.....
a friend of mine uses what he calls the old internet which is all in word form no pictures. Is that still around and how do i gain access to it.
I THINK I NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL TO LEARN HOW TO USE THIS COMPUTER OF MINE. 32 YEARS OLD AND NO CLUE WHAT 90% OF THE STUFF YOU ALL ARE TALKING ABOUT

 

You can download the SP2 service beta pack from Microsoft here's the addy, Glenn


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/sp2preview.mspx

 

You can run IE safely by disabling ActiveX and Java, and disabling Scripting in IE's Internet options/Security tab, although a LOT of sites will be crippled if you do that, as most today use those. At work, out IT department keeps ActiveX & Java disabled, and I stumble on some sites, and some look just plain weird. Gamespot pages are scattered all over the place. LOL.

You can return to a "text only" internet by going into Internet Options/Advanced tab & disabling everything in the Multimedia category, but again, lots of stuff won't show up on sites, likely including lots of cute buttons you might want to push.

Neither of the above is acceptable to most users, so they leave everything enabled, and are vulnerable to attack.

Pegg, Windows Service Pack 2 is still in Beta stage, IE: not ready for prime time. Wait for the final release unless you want to play beta tester. There are a LOT of programs that are guaranteed NOT to work with SP2, hopefully most of them are working on fixes as we speak, but don't jump the gun; it can cause you grief.

I really suggest you try out the Firefox browser. It works similar to IE, you won't feel totally lost. It has features IE doesn't have such as tabbed browsing, it's SMALL; the whole dowload is only around 5 megabytes, it's totally separate from IE; you can keep and run both of them, even at the same time. It has lots of cool plug-ins including a replacement Google bar if you want. And NONE..... NONE of the exploits that plague IE will affect it. You'll still need IE anyway, if for nothing else other than Windows Update. Windows won't update with another browser.

 

I downloaded firefox last week. I really like the simplicity of the interface! Works really well. Don't even miss IE even though this is what I have been using for past for years...Try it!

 

One of the reasons I launched AOL off my pooter and into the heart of the sun was that, for all practical purposes, it IS a virus.

 

Wow -- true poetry, man

 

GT so Firefox is easy to run? I was worried there would be a bunch of complicated settings and what not to configure, all of which i would have on clue about...

 

i was just about to install it... if i do the Standard install it comes with some Quality Feedback agent? do i want that or do i want to do a custom install?

 

You could do a search here and find MANY references and threads to firefox. They've talked about it a lot and it would answer many questions.

 

Hehe. Just read the picture.

 

Do a custome install and don't install "Quality Feedback" if you don't want to feed error data to the programmers.

 

okay i got mine up and running and it looks very clean and simple

now i thought i heard you guys mention that i won't get any popups with this browser so i'm guessing i won't need the Google Popup blocker? I will google for past Firefox threads on these boards for more info, that is of course if you guys don't mind me asking a few questions... also, when i used IE i installed shockwave via visiting a site that had it, and the activex window popped up and then i installed it...

 

okay disregard the above post... i've been reading the Firefox faq listed under the Bookmarks tab... i installed Flash player and Shockwave via the instructions... downloaded the installer to my desktop, when asked which browser to install for, i clicked other and routed the install to my plug in folder for Firefox... then i deleted the install files off my desktop (assuming that was okay to do i didn't wan them there)... any specific site i can visit to verify that both installs worked (for both shockwave and flashplayer)?

 

Go to
http://www.shockwave.com/ and play around.

 

okay folks one last question =]

i uninstaleld QuikTime Alternative which i previously used for IE, and downloaded the latest Quicktime off Apples site (where i was directed too from Firefox FAQ)... so i install Quicktime into it's own Program Files folder or do i direct the install to the Plug In folder for Firefox as i did with the 2 previous plug ins (Shockwave & Flashplayer)... thanks

 

Yep, personally I'm using I.E. as well. I have tried the others, and they're okay, but I guess I like what I'm used to and works for me.

CCleaner, Adaware, SpySweeper after each net use keeps the nasties out - with 0% getting in thus far. Firewalls, anti-virus and I.S.P. anti-virus service keeps all the rest of the unwanted visitors at bay - though many have tried.

 

I've been using Firefox for a long time now (since firebird actually) and I've just gotten used to it. Its MUCH faster than IE, both to load up and to serve pages. It's also more standards compliant than IE, so its good for developing web pages (but of course you should test it with all setups).

The Javascript engine doesnt support some of the IE specific stuff like document.all, or execCommand(), or certain ActiveX objects (like the MSN messenger interface object). This is because the API doesnt interface directly with windows in the same way IE does.

 

Lucky me: I use Safari.
And even if I did use IE, those installers are probably not for Mac's.

 

The Mac version of IE is about 2 versions behind If I remember correctly. But Safari is better anyway

 

FYI, quicktime alternative and real alternative both work with firefox...

 

Mr. Flea how do i install QuickTime alternative for Firefox?

 

Sorry about the slow reply... I've been pretty busy lately...

To install quicktime alternative in Firefox, launch the installer for it, click next, put in the directory where you would like to install (the default one is fine), click next, make sure "Quicktime plugin for opera/mozilla/netscape" is checked, click next, type in a folder name for the start menu group (or check don't create a start menu folder), click next, check what you want, click next, click install, wait for installation to finish, when it does it will prompt for the location of the firefox plugins folder (which by default is c:\program files\mozilla firefox\plugins), click install, check configure settings for quicktime if you wish, then click finish.

The real alternative installer also has firefox compatability, and the directions are the same except for one small detail, when it asks where to install the plugin, it will ask for the browser's root directory instead of the plugins directory.