ANOTHER IE PATCH

This morning Microsoft released a patch for Internet Explorer to prevent an exploit that became publicly known in the last couple of days. The fear is that the bad guys will quickly come up with ways to demagnetize your credit cards and kill your pets if you don't install the patch. Your computers will be updated automatically tonight and might restart. The patch has a severity rating of "Critical."

You should install the patch. But the usual articles are appearing about how this demonstrates that Internet Explorer is unsafe and anyone using it deserves scorn or pity, depending on how generous the author is.

The bad guys move very quickly and this exploit will presumably start being used more widely but at the moment its only public appearance has been on a few hundred Taiwanese or Chinese web sites set up to steal online gaming passwords. It's not a good time to visit porn, hacking, cracking, serials and key-gen websites. I dunno, maybe I just know nice people, but I don't know many people who will have a problem with that. If you follow the rules at the bottom of this post, none of these exploits will ever mean much to you!

It's natural to be curious about using another program when there is so much coverage of IE's patches.

A lot of people talk about Firefox, which achieved quite a distinction this week when it was named the Most Vulnerable Software Program running on Windows. "In 2008, Mozilla patched 10 vulnerabilities that could be used by remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via buffer overflow, malformed URI links, documents, JavaScript and third party tools." Four of those vulnerabilities have a severity rating of "Critical," three have a rating of "Severe," and three have a rating of "Panic."

Perhaps you'll consider Opera, an open-source browser with a good reputation, which yesterday released an upgrade that fixed seven security problems that "could lead to remote code execution if an Opera user is tricked into surfing to a maliciously rigged Web page." Two of the bugs are rated "Oh My God," three of them are rated "Apocalyptic," and two of them are rated "Purple."

You'll want to look into Apple's Safari browser, whose last patch in November fixed 11 security problems - four were rated "Meltdown," and the rest were rated "Zesty."

A few of you are so tired of constant updates and security problems that you'll buy Macs for yourself this Xmas. This week Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.6, the sixth update since the Mac OS was released just over a year ago. Apple recently urged all Mac users to install antivirus software, but it's not because Macs are insecure! Don't be thinking that! It's because, um, antivirus programs can be used by the kids for fun and interesting science fair experiments. Yeah, that's it.

Wanna be safe? Use Internet Explorer, keep your computer up to date, and follow these rules.

Antivirus software will not always protect you against malware if you click OK at the wrong time!

Don't click on strange URLs! Follow links with carefree abandon to and from legitimate sites, but don't click on links that arrive in spam e-mail, instant messages, web forums, or IRC chats, or that start from an untrustworthy web site.

Never, never, never open email attachments unless you know with 100% certainty that the attachment is something you expected and want to receive.

The bad guys are liars. They will say anything to get past your defenses, without conscience or remorse.

Please, be careful out there!

Labels: Apple, IE, Microsoft, security

posted by bruceb at 12/17/2008 11:31:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS & MESH UPDATES

Ho hum. Another day, another batch of updates.

Microsoft released its regularly scheduled monthly updates last night. Your computer may have restarted automatically last night or it will tonight.

If you are using Live Mesh, there is an update that reportedly improves a number of features. Mesh may prompt you to install it at some point soon - I'm not sure if it's completely automatic.

You might want to take a look at the available updates proactively. Go to the Microsoft Update page. In Windows XP, you'll arrive at a web site where you can click the Custom button; in Vista, you'll open up the built-in update program where you can click on View Available Updates.

In addition to any required updates, you'll likely see some "optional" updates. Some of those are interesting! I found the Live Mesh update listed there today. If you're on Windows XP, you might find Windows Search 4.0, a truly useful tool. Perhaps you never got around to Internet Explorer 7, which is significantly safer to use than IE6.

Be careful installing hardware updates that way. If your hardware is working, you may want to be conservative and not install an updated video driver or network card driver. I have mixed feelings about suggesting that because many of the new drivers can be a significant improvement, but installing hardware drivers through the Windows Update system does not always go smoothly and I don't want you to blame me.

The other optional updates are likely to be safe. See if there's anything you're missing!

Labels: IE, search, software, Vista, web_services, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 12/10/2008 10:51:00 AM | permalink

SBS 2008 - SSL CERTIFICATES

Let me give you a quick overview of the kind of issue that makes it fun to be a consultant.

When you go to a web site where any personal information is going to be exchanged, you're likely to see the web site address change from http:// to https://. The data is encrypted (has a "Secure Sockets Layer" or SSL) and is reasonably well protected against eavesdroppers. You'll see it at banking sites or almost anything involving money or payment, as well as on web sites for access to company networks and other places where data should be confidential.

When you go to http://www.wellsfargo.com/, the bank's web server presents its security certificate from a known certificate authority, a big company that has done some checking to ensure that the server actually belongs to the company whose name is on the web site. Your browser examines it and agrees that it looks authentic, then it does some cryptographic things that convince it that the certificate was really issued by the big trusted authority. When it's satisfied, it proceeds automatically to https://www.wellsfargo.com/ and shows you a happy padlock icon in the address bar.

Until recently, SSL certificates were only used by big companies: they were expensive, required annoying paperwork, and the whole process was technically difficult.

Small Business Server 2003 wanted remote users to log into its great Remote Web Workplace over a secure SSL connection but couldn't saddle small businesses with the headache of buying expensive certificates, so it used a workaround. By default an SBS 2003 server presents a "self-signed certificate." Essentially the server vouches for itself and tells your browser that it's safe and trustworthy.

That sounds a bit flaky but it worked well enough for a long time, until security concerns began to trump everything else. Business people began buying Windows Mobile phones to sync their Outlook folders over the air and for a while it was possible to convince them to accept the SBS server's self-signed certificate, but it got harder and harder to accomplish - it required finding the right tool to install the certificate on the phone and the manufacturers were nervous about giving people access to the depths of the phone's operating system to do that. Now it's almost always impossible.

Meanwhile Microsoft began to add new security warnings to Internet Explorer as part of its hardening over the last few years. Now when you go to a site with an SBS 2003 certificate, you get this ominous warning:

If you go past the scary warning to the company's RWW site, you get the unhappy red IE address bar instead of the happy padlock:

Fortunately, a few companies began offering inexpensive SSL certificates with a minimum of fuss. GoDaddy.com offers SSL certificates for only thirty dollars per year that are accepted by most computers, phones and other devices. SBS consultants began to work out elaborate documentation for installing them on SBS servers. Many consultants made it a standard part of setting up a server running SBS 2003.

SBS 2008 still begins with a self-signed certificate but a wizard is included in the initial setup checklist to help purchase a third-party certificate.

The wizard wasn't helpful to me in a migration where I already had a domain name with an existing certificate. I found myself burrowing deeply into IIS and feeling my way through the process. I was successful but it took some interesting tricks to get everything to work correctly.

The experience exposed another interesting feature of Exchange 2007. If a company runs the web site http://www.bigfirm.com/, it can set up http://remote.bigfirm.com/ as a subdomain that leads to their internal company network. Set the company's MX record for incoming mail to http://remote.bigfirm.com/ and give that address to the business people for remote access. SBS 2008 has wizards to help get the domain names registered and set up in Exchange.

Then if a business person goes home and sets up Outlook 2007 for an Exchange Server at http://remote.bigfirm.com/, Outlook will configure itself automatically with the settings to connect over the Internet to Exchange Server at the office. It's not necessary in that case to configure the deep proxy settings that have been required until now to set up Outlook for RPC over HTTP. Microsoft thinks the technology is so cool that it blessed it with a new brand name, "Outlook Anywhere." (SBS 2008 does some of the magic to accomplish that, thank goodness - otherwise it requires deep surgery in ADSIEDIT and the Exchange command line console.)

That works fine, I'm sure, but I used a different naming scheme when I bought domain names for all my SBS clients for their remote access. SBS 2008 does not like that arrangement one little bit. And it's only easy to set up a subdomain and manipulate MX records if you have full DNS control over the ISP for http://www.bigfirm.com/. A small business will frequently have set up their web site with small hosting companies and web site designers that are, shall we say, not always easy to work with.

You see what I mean, I'm sure - it's fun!

Labels: domains, IE, Internet, mail, Microsoft, mobile, Outlook, phone, remote, SBS, security

posted by bruceb at 12/03/2008 12:46:00 AM | permalink

CLOUD COMPUTING BASICS

There are lots of projects intended to move our computing lives online. Let me try to paint a picture of where our world is heading over the next 5-10 years. I'll use Microsoft projects as examples but keep in mind that other companies have similar projects and goals.

Start with hundreds of thousands of high-powered servers all over the world, run by big companies, providing storage space and computing power to do interesting things. Amazon and Google are already in that business, and one of Microsoft's big announcements at last week's conference was that it intends to commit the future of the company to providing services from its own global network. Assume that the companies are doing what it takes to convince you that they have the resources to keep things safe and working at full speed.

Take a step forward from where we are now (a small step, really) and imagine that when you click on File / Open in Microsoft Word and see a list of the files in your Documents folder, you're seeing a list that is the same regardless of where you're sitting or what computer you're using. Your documents are listed when you're at your desk, but the same list appears when you're at a friend's house or at an Internet cafe in Paris. You don't give that a second thought - you expect it to happen and it works.

Well, it doesn't work yet but you might be surprised at how many steps you can take right now toward that goal.

• You can store documents in Office Live Workspace; on your own computer you can open them from within Word after installing a little plugin, and from any other computer you can access them in a browser and open them in Word if it's installed on that computer.
• If you set up Live Mesh, you can have local copies of your documents on all the computers you use regularly, appearing in your Documents folder when you click File / Open in Word, plus you can access the same files online by logging onto the Live Mesh website.

Those services are still in their early stages of development and will become easier to use. I have some criticisms of the way some Office Live Workspace features are designed and those will be addressed, but I've also seen references to the likelihood that Live Mesh folders will be accessible in Office Live Workspace and you'll just have to trust me - that moves us a huge step closer to that picture I painted up there of universal, easy access to your files from anywhere.

The bigger picture goes far beyond the basic ability to store files online - there are lots of ways already available to store documents online. The future lies in whether you can create and edit your files from any device.

So let's add one more element. Microsoft announced that you'll be able to use online versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote to work on your files if you're sitting at a computer where those programs are not installed. There are many, many details to be worked out about price, features (these will start out as "light" versions of the programs), and integration with your online files, but the concept immediately makes sense. Here's a screen shot of Word running in Internet Explorer - click through for shots of other programs:

Imagine that the experience of using Microsoft Word is identical regardless of whether you're using the copy installed on your computer or the online version, and you can open the same files regardless of where you're sitting. Under the hood, let's say Microsoft has done the heavy lifting to ensure that security precautions are observed for businesses. Interested yet?

Let's stop there for today. Tomorrow we'll take that a step further and try to understand just how wildly ambitious the plans are that Microsoft outlined last week.

Labels: business, file_sharing, IE, Internet, Microsoft, mobile, Office, software

posted by bruceb at 11/03/2008 12:33:00 AM | permalink

FLASH 10

Adobe released Flash Player 10, a new version of its ubiquitous software for displaying video clips and special effects in a web browser. You're using Flash every time you watch a YouTube video. There's a long list of new features on the Adobe web site, although really all that matters is whether it will stream higher-quality video without stuttering. Supposedly the new version will do better at that.

So I scurried off to install Flash 10, since I live for things like this - went to the web site and clicked on the "Get Flash Player 10" button and watched in excitement as a setup dialog appeared, followed by a couple of quick glimpses of setup windows coming and going, followed by the thrilling conclusion!

Hmm. Now Flash is broken.

I'm not discouraged! Back to the web site, click the setup button again! The computer whirs and belches and eventually the animation appears and I get the confirmation that installation was successful!

Version 9? Not quite what I was expecting.

Okay, fine. Let's get tough.

Off to Control Panel to uninstall Flash. There are two Flash programs listed, one of them for Flash 10 plus another one that probably was supposed to have been removed by the Flash 10 setup program. Uninstall them both.

Then back to the Flash web site, click the setup button, computer clanks and beeps, and wow, I've got Flash 10! Great!

I have no idea what difference that makes but perhaps it will be clearer after developers and web sites with video begin taking advantage of the new features.

Our experience with online video will steadily improve and this is one of the incremental steps forward. Microsoft just released Silverlight 2, Microsoft's competing technology for online video, which Microsoft hopes will chip away at Flash's commanding lead in the market. I don't care much who wins, but wouldn't it be nice if you could install useful tools without this kind of exercise?

Labels: IE, software, video

posted by bruceb at 10/17/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

GOOGLE CHROME & IE8

There are new Internet browsers available in the news - Microsoft made a beta release of Internet Explorer 8 available last week for testing, and Google caused a fuss when it released a beta version of Chrome today, possibly as a hasty response to Microsoft's release.

Google envisions a future where all of our work is done in an Internet browser. You'll work on online files using online applications, powered by rich web-based programming languages. The underlying operating system fades in importance in that world - it might be Windows but it doesn't have to be because it's not doing anything interesting. Imagine this pitch:

Now available at WalMart, the ChromePC 3000, powered by Google! It starts instantly, like any other appliance; it runs your online programs faster than any PC or Mac; it's almost invulnerable to viruses and malware. You can watch movies from Netflix, watch Internet TV, play streaming music, and watch YouTube videos; you can work on your documents stored in Google Docs or Acrobat.com, check your GMail or Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, and you can edit your photos in Picasa or Adobe Photoshop Online. It's yours for $299!

That's pretty tempting! It might not matter that it's manufactured by an unknown Korean company and runs Ubuntu Linux, eh?

Now I just made that up with no regard for reality. But Microsoft is going nuts because it's increasingly easy to imagine some variation on that  - an emerging market that bypasses Windows. There are a lot of people who might be perfectly content to use a simple device that only runs an Internet browser although it's not going to be everyone's world; even if we use more online services and move files online, businesses will still use rich applications installed on Windows for a long time to come.

Google's vision is interesting. At the moment, the reality is something else. Google may have rushed its announcement of Chrome because it was embarrassed that after years of development its "new" features are not special at all - they're very, very similar to the features in Internet Explorer 8. The new features in either one are modest improvements at best - architectural changes to make the browers more crash-resistant, faster Java, better security, and a way to surf online without collecting any history (immediately and obviously dubbed "Porn Mode"). Neato! Not exactly riveting stuff.

Early reports suggest that Chrome is a work in progress, with some bugs, no support for add-ins, and an interface that is so stripped-down that I personally find it a bit odd. IE8 has some nice new ways to customize things and a few things moved around. I'm not sure I have time to test either one.

Let me return to something I said about Firefox when its new version was released. (This is addressed to the business users trying to get work done and the home users who don't want technical glitches. If you're a technically proficient computer user, go about your business with my best wishes.)

All of you have Internet Explorer 7 installed on your Windows computers. It is stable, full-featured, and secure.

Don't install duplicative software unnecessarily! You should not install a new Internet browser because a well-meaning friend tells you that it's cool, or a newspaper article speaks highly of it. You should install software if and only if you can articulate something that the new software will allow you to do that you cannot currently do. And you must be ready to take on the burden of giving the new software the care and attention it will require for security and stability.

Labels: Google, IE, Internet, Microsoft, software

posted by bruceb at 9/03/2008 01:24:00 AM | permalink

FAKE FLASH UPDATE - SPYWARE ALERT!
There is a massive spam attack underway masquerading as messages from CNN.com. The first set of messages had links to the "Top 10 Headlines" and "Top 10 Videos"; now there are new variations presenting a "custom news alert." Clicking on any link in the messages will bring up a dialog that says an incorrect version of Flash Player has been detected that needs to be updated to a newer edition.

You will be caught in an endless loop - if you click "Cancel" another box will immediately appear, over and over. The only way to get out is to force your browser to close with Task Manager, or shut down your computer.

If you click OK, malware is installed. You will immediately get a blizzard of popups, advertisements for fake "antivirus" software, and the likelihood that something more sinister is happening on your computer behind the scenes. It is increasingly difficult or impossible to remove this stuff once it gets on your computer!

At the malicious web sites, you'll see something like this:

Antivirus software will not always protect you against malware if you click OK at the wrong time! Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Here's an article about the spam blitz. Links to the malicious web sites are also being left in comments on MySpace and Facebook, according to this article.

Don't click on strange URLs! Follow links with carefree abandon to and from legitimate sites, but don't click on links that arrive in spam e-mail, instant messages, web forums, or IRC chats, or that start from an untrustworthy web site. Be paranoid and surf carefully!

Labels: IE, Internet, security, spam

posted by bruceb at 8/11/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

DROWNING IN JAVA

There are frequent updates for Java, the technology used by many web sites to make interesting things happen in your browser. You've probably seen the Java update bubble popping up far too often down in the lower right corner of the screen.

The updates are issued to fix security problems, problems that are being exploited by the bad guys. If you're fooled into visiting a malicious web site, there's a chance that your computer might load some malware through a security hole in an old version of Java, even after you've installed a more recent version. Here's an article from the Washington Post about the security hole caused by these leftover versions.

That's why it's so frustrating that the updates do not uninstall the older versions of Java, resulting in a complete mess of Java versions on almost everyone's computer. Take a look in Add/Remove Programs and see if you have a list that looks something like this:

That's just dumb.

Each of those can be removed individually, which is a pain in the neck. An annoyed blogger created a script to remove all versions of Java from a computer in one operation. He sounds like a reasonable person so I ran it on my computer; it appeared to do what it promised. I can't vouch for it - we should never run software from an unknown source - but if you run it and wind up being sold as a slave by the Russian mafia, at least you know I'll be there too.

After running the script, you'll have to reinstall the latest version of Java from here.

Remember, as Windows becomes more secure, the bad guys are increasingly using programs like Flash, Java and Quicktime to deliver malware to our computers. The free Secunia Online Software Inspector is a very helpful tool to identify updates that might be needed on your computer. Here's more information about the Secunia Inspector. Upgrades are a pain but keep your computer up to date!

Labels: IE, security, software

posted by bruceb at 8/08/2008 01:18:00 AM | permalink

QUICK TO ANGER

Quicktime has been an annoying bit of software for ten years now. My experience tonight was the final straw. I've spent the better part of an hour cleaning it off my system and I don't intend to let it back. What is it with Apple? Every time I feel like giving Apple the benefit of the doubt, swayed by all the hype, I have an experience where I'm reminded that Apple writes crappy, invasive software.

Quicktime has been around forever, a bit of free software that will play online videos in certain formats. In the last few years YouTube and the other big video sites began using Flash for movies, so Apple shifted its focus to new high definition video formats. Most of you will only run into Quicktime now if you go look for movie trailers - the studios use it a lot.

And Quicktime has been a pain in the neck forever. When I began this news page, one of my first comments was a complaint about Quicktime. (I've got old archives here - I was ranting about Quicktime on 09/27/99. "Is it just me or is Quicktime incredibly annoying?") For years Apple released Quicktime updates that did not remove older conflicting versions; at one point Apple literally hid the free version of the program in an attempt to deceive us into downloading a paid version; recently it used a Quicktime update as a mechanism to deceptively install its unnecessary and insecure browser.

A couple of days ago I installed the Quicktime 7.5 update, supposedly an important update to cure serious security problems.

Quicktime stole my file associations. I hate it when programs steal my file associations.

An easy example: You probably have three or four or five programs on your computer that can open JPG files. One of them is the default - the one Windows will use if you just click on a JPG file. That's the file association - they're the default programs assigned to dozens of different types of files recognized by your computer.

Manufacturers have been trying to steal file associations from each other for years. Each program that you install for photos will try to become the default program for opening JPG files. When you click on a file and the wrong program starts, it's because something else has grabbed that file association.

It's possible to reassign the program of your choice but it's a pain. (Right-click on a file of the type you want to change, click on "Open with / Change default program" and you'll get a list of likely programs, along with a checkbox to "Always use this program to open this type of file." Vista has a well-organized set of controls - click on Start, type "default" and click on "Default Programs." It's not a friendly place to hang out.)

I guard my file associations jealously. When I click on an MP3 file, I want J River Media Center to play it. When I click on a JPG, I want it displayed in Windows Live Photo Gallery; when I click on a PNG, I want Microsoft Digital Image Editor. You might not think of it but you're just like me, looking for continuity and familiarity, not sudden unexplained changes in the programs that pop up.

Quicktime 7.5 has a confusing installation routine and tries to become your default program for dozens of types of files, but if you're careful during installation it's possible to deselect all of the file types so Quicktime is not the default for anything. That's my favorite result - it's a yucky program with terrible controls and insistent advertisements for a paid version. (Remember, always do a custom installation of any software and read all the things with checkboxes!)

I stopped Quicktime from grabbing any file associations and installed the update. No worries, eh?

I clicked a link tonight in Internet Explorer to download and save an MP3 file. The Quicktime logo appeared and the file started playing in Quicktime's stupid player embedded in a big empty white Internet Explorer page.

WTF?

Come to find out that Internet Explorer has its own file associations, separate from the rest of the computer. Without asking, Quicktime had installed an IE addin that took over god knows how many file types in Internet Explorer - movies, PNG files, MP3 files, more.

Research, experiment, more research, more experiments. Once Quicktime steals those Internet Explorer file associations, it's virtually impossible to put them back to the defaults. They are stored completely separately from all the regular file associations, so repairing those doesn't do anything to IE. I tried registry fixes, I tried IE7's tool to reset every browser setting to its default (Tools / Internet Options / Advanced / Reset Internet Explorer Settings). I tried disabling Quicktime's addin (Tools / Manage Add-ons) and discovered that the file associations were hosed - web pages had red Xs where PNG files should display, error messages appeared when links were clicked for some file types. According to what I was reading online, uninstalling Quicktime does not put things back to normal!

In the end, I was saved by a system restore. Once the IE file associations were back to normal I was able to set about to scrub my system of Apple software, including the "Apple Update Utility" that I had specifically told it NOT to install. (Apple: "I'll be darned. How did THAT get there? Little rascal.")

This is obviously not a huge problem - most of you would be mildly inconvenienced and a little confused, nothing more. But I'm watching our interactions with Windows computers become more complex and more confusing and it's the result of a lot of little invasions like this by companies who have only their own corporate interests at heart. So trust me, I'm only thinking of you when something like this makes me furious.

I'm not sure what the conclusion is. Quicktime occasionally comes in handy online and if it's installed then it really should be updated for security reasons. It's not so awful that I'm going to urge you to remove it. But personally, I'm going to swear off movie previews and see if I miss it. I hope not.

Labels: Apple, IE, video, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 6/23/2008 02:29:00 AM | permalink

FIREFOX 3

Mozilla released the Firefox 3 Internet browser on Tuesday and is working on setting a Guinness record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. There are a lot of people who like Firefox a lot.

If you haven't been following along, Firefox is an Internet browser that can be installed for free on Windows XP and Vista as an alternative to Internet Explorer. It is also available for Linux and Macs, making it easier for people to go back and forth among different operating systems. It has important ties to the growing community of open source developers and is sponsored by a company that is not strictly a nonprofit but pledges to be running itself for the greater good rather than for profit. It has been gaining market share rapidly for the last few years and is currently the second most-used Internet browser; the launch of Firefox 3 has been planned to generate gobs of publicity that will increase public awareness and market share.

You may download and install Firefox 3 with my blessing, but I want you to stop for just a second before you do.

I run happy computers. I try to make your computers happy. My guiding principle to accomplish that is to install software only when it's necessary to do something useful that can't be done as well by something already on the computer.

You're running an up to date Windows XP or Vista computer with Internet Explorer 7, a browser that is fast and secure. I don't want you to install Firefox unless you have some idea of why you're installing it!

There are really only two possibilities.

• Firefox is produced by independent and enthusiastic people who are not Microsoft. For many people that is a sufficient reason to prefer it.
• Firefox has features that are not offered in Internet Explorer that you want to explore - particularly the rich world of addons that extend and change the browser's features and look.

Here's an extensive review of the new features in Firefox 3 and the things that distinguish it from Internet Explorer 7. Go read it! (There's no shortage of writeups and reviews. Here's another enthusiastic description.) If you decide to install it and use those new and distinctive features, that's great. It won't hurt your computer and you may come to love it. Many people do.

But for many of you, the only reason to install Firefox will be that a well-meaning friend told you that it's cool, or a newspaper article speaks highly of it. In that case, think about not going there! You'll be installing a lovely, duplicative piece of software that will require care and attention - security updates are inevitable and plans are already laid for version 3.1, with more super swell stuff, which will inevitably be followed by 3.2 and 3.3 and 4.0. In the long run, installing unnecessary software is a recipe for an unhappy computer.

I'm not going to be installing Firefox. I look at the reviews and see it praised for its speed, which strikes me as a complete non-issue; for the wealth of addons, which most writeups concede frequently cause Firefox to become unstable; for features and security that make it comparable to (but not particularly better than) Internet Explorer 7; and for new features that seem uninteresting. That's just me! Make your own decision, but make it deliberately, not as a passing thought.

So install Firefox if you choose, and use it in good health. If you're lucky, you'll become a Firefox convert, which I think would be great - it's fun to have something to be enthusiastic about!

Labels: IE, Internet, Microsoft, software

posted by bruceb at 6/18/2008 02:13:00 AM | permalink

IE HOME PAGE

The battle for your home page has been raging for years, and it shows no sign of dying down. The home page is the first page that's displayed when you open Internet Explorer. Big companies love it when your home page is set to one of their properties, so you see all of their lovely advertising. Microsoft, Yahoo, AT&T, Comcast, and many more will change your home page to their preferred choice given half a chance.

This isn't new but it's worth repeating. You can set your home page to anything you like, and it's easier than ever in Internet Explorer 7. If you want a different page to be displayed when you start Internet Explorer, just browse to the page of your choice (which I trust will be the bruceb favorites page, right?), then click on the down arrow by the home icon in the upper right.

Choose "Add or change home page." You'll be able to set the current page as your new home page. Done!

While you're making changes, you can change another odd setting - by default, a blank page is shown when you open a new tab in IE7. Click on Tools / Internet Options, then click on the "Settings" button under Tabs. Add a check mark to "Open home page for new tabs instead of a blank page."

Labels: IE

posted by bruceb at 6/02/2008 01:16:00 AM | permalink

GETTING RID OF AN IE ANNOYANCE

When I'm online with Internet Explorer, I frequently see this warning before a page is displayed:

Some security measures - like Vista's UAC - are momentary pauses for a second thought about whether you truly initiated some action on purpose. Some people object to the Vista UAC warning box but I find it to be a worthwhile compromise for the security it provides.

The IE "secure and nonsecure items" warning does not seem worthwhile. It seems annoying. I can't imagine the set of circumstances that would lead me to say "No" and have it make any difference.

Maybe it's just me, but it feels as if I've been seeing that window more and more frequently in the last year.

If you get frustrated by it, this is the process to disable the warning.

• Open Internet Explorer.
• From the menus in the upper right, click on Tools / Internet Options.
• Click on the Security tab.
• Highlight "Internet" and click no the "Custom Level" button.
• Scroll to the "Miscellaneous" section.
• Change the bullet on "Display mixed content" from "Prompt" to "Enable.

This setting goes back to Internet Explorer 6, according to this Microsoft support document, so either web sites are being designed in such a way that the warning is appearing more frequently, or I'm getting older and crankier. Hmm. Tough call.

Labels: IE, security

posted by bruceb at 5/31/2008 02:19:00 PM | permalink

FLASH PLAYER SECURITY WARNING

Adobe Flash Player is installed as an add-on to Internet Explorer on almost everyone's computer. It's become the ubiquitous way to display online videos from YouTube and all the other sites streaming video.

Now there's another security flaw that has the researchers getting all excited. There are reports of bad guys setting up web sites that feed malformed strings to Adobe Flash. If you're tricked into visiting one of those sites, your computer will immediately begin creating giant insects that will destroy the planet. Well, something like that - the details are always a little hazy about what the bad guys will accomplish if they gain access to your computer, but it's something awful, I'm sure.

The current version of Flash, version 9.0.124.0, is apparently secure against this attack. Here's more information from Adobe about the need to update Flash to be safe.

If you visit this page, you will be told the version of Flash installed on your computer. You can install the latest version from this page.

The update only takes a minute and does not require a restart. Please take a minute and update your Flash Player!

Labels: IE, security

posted by bruceb at 5/30/2008 09:53:00 AM | permalink

REMOTE WEB WORKPLACE TRICKS

If you work in a business run by Microsoft Small Business Server, you probably know about Remote Web Workplace, one of the best things Microsoft has created in the last few years. With just a few clicks, an SBS user can bring up the company's RWW web site and connect to an office computer using Remote Desktop.

Recent changes caused by service packs and security updates have changed that experience a bit. At some point you may need to know a few new tricks.

INSTALLING THE ACTIVEX CONTROL IN VISTA

The first time a connection is made to an office computer with RWW, a small Remote Desktop ActiveX control has to be installed. On Vista computers, I could not get the ActiveX program to install - I'd click the bar and say OK and be taken right back to the message asking for it to be installed.

If that happens to you, click on Start and type in "Internet" so you can see Internet Explorer on the menu. Right-click on IE and click on "Run As Administrator." (You won't have that choice if you right-click on IE where it always appears at the top of the Start menu.) That session of IE will run with elevated permissions and you'll be allowed to install the ActiveX control when you return to the RWW site. Once it's installed, IE can be run normally and it will start the session just fine.

ENABLE THE ACTIVEX CONTROL IN WINDOWS XP

Susan Bradley reports that the Remote Desktop ActiveX control may be disabled after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. You'll get this screen:

Click on the little gear at the bottom to bring up IE7's controls to manage addons, or click on Tools / Manage Addons / Enable Or Disable Addons. You can enable the Microsoft Terminal Services ActiveX control there.

SCARY SECURITY MESSAGES

There's new Remote Desktop software with some security improvements, a few improvements in video quality and speed, and improved support for Vista and Windows Server 2008. But it adds a security warning that looks alarming, even when you're connecting to a computer you know is safe.

If you're connecting to your business network or a safe computer, go ahead and connect.

It's a little like the unnecessarily alarming screen that appears when you connect to the Remote Web Workplace web site, if your company server is using the server's default security certificate. The warnings are really poorly chosen for SBS users! Everything's fine - click OK to go to your company server if you see this screen.

Labels: IE, remote, SBS, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 5/08/2008 12:56:00 AM | permalink

APPLE UPDATES: SAFARI INVASION

A client asked me about an update window that had popped up so I sat down in front of "Apple Updates" and stared at the three programs listed - "updates" to iTunes, QuickTime, and Safari. I'm as burned out as anybody on the unending stream of updates but okay, iTunes and QuickTime might plausibly have updated versions available.

But - Safari? That's Apple's Internet browser. It runs on PCs but nobody uses it, since it's got no discernible advantages over any of the other browsers. Firefox is the only alternative browser I run into - it also has no discernible advantages over Internet Explorer, but Firefox has some religious believers and it isn't worth quarreling about.

I confirmed that Safari wasn't installed on that computer. Why was an "update" being offered?

It wasn't an update. Apple is using its "update" program as a Trojan horse carrying software that is not already installed on your computer. This is a new version of Safari and its most significant selling point is that it's allegedly "faster" than IE and Firefox. I'm sure all 14 of its current PC users are happy and vocal but Safari is a completely superfluous piece of software for XP and Vista computers.

I have my own religious belief. I want as little superfluous software as possible on your computers. Each duplicative program increases the chance that your computer will slow down or crash; increases the chance that unfamiliar programs will start when you click on a file or shortcut; increases the chance that you will be frustrated instead of productive.

I don't like stealth installations. It makes me irritable when an update to Acrobat Reader tries to put on the useless "starter edition" of an obsolete version of Photoshop Elements. I get cranky when Java tries to sneak the Google Toolbar along with one of its updates. And don't get me started on the "HP Memories Disc"! There are many, many more; it's one of the important reasons I suggest always doing a "custom" installation instead of accepting the defaults on a new program or update.

Here are more details about Apple's rogue installation. I don't suggest installing Safari unless you're motivated to deal with whatever problems it introduces and willing to stay on top of the stream of updates that it will require. Apple's update to Safari version 3.1 is fixing thirteen serious security vulnerabilities in both the Mac and PC versions of the browser; it will be followed by version 3.1.0.0.1 and version 3.1.7 and version 3.14152 and on and on and on. As Joe Wilcox notes, "Safari is fairly new to Windows and has yet to really show that it has can muster the security to withstand the associated attacks. Mac OS X is a quaint neighborhood where little Safari was safe. By comparison, Windows is a gang-ridden ghetto: life is survival, and it's tough going."

On the client's computer today, in addition to declining the Safari installation, I found that Apple Updates could be separately uninstalled from Add/Remove Programs, which was precisely the right way to solve the problem.

Labels: Apple, computers, IE, software

posted by bruceb at 3/20/2008 12:42:00 AM | permalink

TALES OF WOE: SOFTWARE DEPT.

My office computer is a powerful Dell tower, with an Nvidia video card and too much software.  I choose software carefully, but I use a lot of programs and there is an alarming number of icons down by the clock.  I am constantly installing new software, upgrading programs or installing security updates, and removing things that don't pass muster.  It doesn't surprise me when things get a little messy and I have to troubleshoot problems that develop.  Lately, though, it feels like everyone is in the same position and we're all seeing strange conflicts and crashes and unresolvable problems.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 was running slowly.  That's where the problems began. 

I started in the Adobe support forums, learning about tools in the program to optimize the database and reading about problems that other people had reported that were not quite the same but left open the possibility that the problem was in the program itself.  Since my photos and the Adobe catalog were on a network server, I turned on offline files to see if a locally stored copy would speed things up.  (Not really.) But programs were crashing and the system was freezing more often than I could explain just with problems in Photoshop Elements.

I started seeing symptoms that pointed to video problems so I focused for a while on the drivers for the video card. Nvidia updates its drivers every couple of months, although that's usually only important for gamers or to solve specific problems.  I had the most recent drivers but I was a little suspicious of them because I started getting an odd horizontal line smeared across the screen every so often after I installed them.  They had cured a couple of other problems, though, and I have been running them for a couple of months without any problems.  It seemed odd that they would start to cause a fuss but I downgraded to the previous WHQL certified version just to be safe. Problems continued unabated and crashes came more frequently until finally I got two blue screens in an hour, with the display driver identified as the culprit each time.  Worse, there were odd sparkling artifacts on the Dell logo displayed by the bios when the system restarted, suggesting that the video card was overheating or failing.

Yuck.  Time to spend a few minutes looking at the offer for discounted video cards from Microsoft through its new Vista Ultimate website, carrying on the tradition of unsatisfying Vista Ultimate promotions.  After only a half hour or so, I felt confident that I had no idea what kind of connector my existing video card uses, or for that matter what the choices are or how to find out.  I also was pretty sure I had no clue how much power a new video card would demand, what kind of power connector was required to support a new video card, whether my Dell computer had a big enough power supply for a new video card, or why I cared.

Something didn't feel right.  What might be causing grief with the video drivers? I turned off GForce, the program that creates incredible visual displays in Media Center, but it's been running happily for a long time - it didn't seem likely to be causing problems all of a sudden. I uninstalled the the CCCP audio and video codecs, which had been updated shortly before this all began.

But it wasn't until I uninstalled the Google Toolbar from Internet Explorer that thing seemed to go back to normal.  I had been running the beta of a new version of the toolbar, which allows auto fill settings and bookmarks to be synced among multiple computers. Other people had reported problems with the new version, although nothing remotely like what I had been seeing.

I can't be sure which change fixed the problems I was having.  My system has gone back to being silky smooth, fast, and happy.  It makes no sense whatsoever for the Google Toolbar to have any interaction with the display driver or to cause system crashes.  But I can't escape the feeling that it was the removal of that toolbar that made my computer settle down. Something did, anyway.

When you call and describe the problem you're having, forgive me if I sigh gently to myself, or possibly start weeping, before we launch into troubleshooting.

Labels: computers, Google, IE, Microsoft, software, Vista

posted by bruceb at 3/13/2008 01:04:00 PM | permalink

SKYPE ADD-ON

Skype is wonderful free software for making online phone calls. With a headset and a fast Internet connection, you can be talking to another Skype user anywhere in the world for free. Here are some notes about how it works and what's involved to make calls to conventional phones.

By default, Skype loads an add-on for Internet Explorer that ought to be simple and useful. The add-on scans each web page to identify phone numbers and highlight them, so a Skype call can be placed to the number with a single click.

I've now run into several cases where Internet Explorer appeared to freeze or time out - and the Skype add-on was the culprit. Disabling it allowed the computers to resume normal operation. It doesn't always happen but I'm on the alert for it now after two or three experiences.

Remember, Internet Explorer 7 has easy tools to deal with add-ons - look under Tools / Manage Add-Ons. I'm cautious about add-ons now after too many poor experiences.

Labels: IE, phone, software

posted by bruceb at 2/25/2008 01:32:00 AM | permalink

UNPLUGGING PLUGINS

We've become familiar with the slowdowns and crashes associated with programs and services that start up automatically when a computer is turned on. Now I'm running into problems caused by the links between programs - the "add-ins" or "add-ons" or "plugins" designed to make programs work together.

• Skype is a quirky but useful program for online phone calls. It installs a couple of add-ins into Internet Explorer - one, for example, identifies phone numbers on a web page and highlights them so a Skype call can be started with a single click. It took me a while to identify it as the reason that Internet Explorer suddenly started opening slowly and occasionally freezing; IE went back to normal when I disabled the Skype add-ins.
• Timeslips installs an Outlook add-in, regardless of whether you intend to exchange information between the two programs. It has caused odd behavior on a number of systems until it was disabled.
• Google finally announced its plan for online file storage; one of its features will be an add-in for Windows to make the Google storage appear in Windows Explorer as an integrated hard drive.
• Microsoft promotes dozens of Internet Explorer add-ons and there are many more powering the current wave of web services. Similarly, there's a huge market for software that enhances Outlook, mostly by installing add-ins to present integrated toolbars and menus.

Many of these are valuable additions to your computing experience, when considered singly. But I'll guarantee that we'll all be wrestling with odd problems as we accumulate more and more of these add-ins and they begin to fight with each other in unexpected ways. YouSendIt's plug-in for Outlook looks great but the chances for problems increase if five other programs are also checking outgoing Outlook messages for various things.

I'm adding these locations to my housekeeping stops, in addition to the various places to look for startup programs.

• Internet Explorer: click on Tools / Manage Add-Ons / Enable Or Disable Add-Ons.
• Outlook 2003: click on Tools / Options / Other / Advanced Options / COM Add-Ins.
• Outlook 2007: click on Tools / Trust Center / Add-Ins.

As with startup programs, don't be too quick to disable items - some of them will be unfamiliar and potentially important. But if you see something clearly unnecessary - references to programs that are uninstalled or wholly unused, for example - turn off the add-ins. You'll have fewer problems in the long run.

Labels: IE, Outlook, software, Vista, web_services, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 11/28/2007 12:27:00 AM | permalink

KEEPING UP WITH BLOGS
Let's talk about blogs and RSS feeds. It might have more relevance than you think.

If you're like most people, most of your web surfing time is spent visiting the same few web sites every day. That might start with news pages and weather, then a few pages that are updated frequently with items that interest you. Many of you have started looking at blogs - typically pages with relatively short items arranged chronologically. (Why - this page is a blog! Who knew?)

If a page is updated regularly, it almost certainly has an RSS feed. You can set up software that will automatically read the feed and let you focus on the new items from that site. All of your favorite "feeds" are presented in a single place with a consistent look, more streamlined than the original pages.

Start looking at the upper right corner of Internet Explorer 7. When the RSS icon lights up, you're on a page with an RSS feed and you can subscribe to the feed with a couple of clicks.



Click on the icon and you'll get the same page presented as an RSS feed, typically focused on the text and pictures in the articles without the fancy graphics and advertisements. Try it on this page! Then click the link at the top to subscribe to the feed.

Internet Explorer 7 has a built-in reader that will display all your subscribed pages in a single place. It's the "Feeds" button you've never pushed next to Favorites.



If a page has been updated, its name will be in boldface. When you click it, you'll only see the new items. That sounds simple, but this can seriously change your web surfing experience.

There are many programs designed to improve on that simple reader in Internet Explorer - here's a sample. The built-in IE7 reader is perfect for getting started, but after a while you may find something appealing in the layout and additional features of another piece of software.

Even if you're just getting started, though, take a close look at Bloglines. It's entirely web-based - no software to install, just a free login name and password to bring up an online application for your feeds. It's smooth and easy to get started and has a nice presentation onscreen - and it has the extra advantage that you can go to the Bloglines website and access your list of feeds from any computer. Here's a description of the service, and here's a CNet review. If you want a quick look, here's my Bloglines list.

Now go back to that PC Magazine list of 100 blogs and take a look with a fresh eye - you can assemble a list of interesting sites and easily see what's new each day with a lot less clicking and a lot fewer advertisements.

Labels: IE, Internet, web_services

posted by bruceb at 11/01/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

THE IE7 MENU BAR
The team developing Internet Explorer 7 tried to maximize the screen space available for web pages by shrinking or removing some familiar parts of IE6. The missing menu bar has caused much grief for some of my friends and clients. Sorry! Here's two tips that might ease your transition over to IE7.

• The menu appears if you hit the ALT key.
• You can make the menu stay onscreen permanently by hitting the ALT key, then clicking on View / Toolbars / Menu Bar.

Labels: IE, software

posted by bruceb at 12/27/2006 11:44:00 PM | permalink

QUICKBOOKS, IE7 AND COMPUTER SECURITY
Intuit has finally released updates for various versions of Quickbooks to make them more or less compatible with Internet Explorer 7. Here's the IE7 compatibility chart, with links to the various updates.

This is an odd issue with a long history. For years, Quickbooks has violated many basic rules of computer security and Intuit has been slow to change its design. Here's a very brief description of the issue.

Windows users are accustomed to running their computers as "administrators," with full power to change any aspect of the system - installing, running and removing programs, adding or deleting files, and changing the Windows registry. Programs that run while we're logged in as administrators typically inherit our credentials - any program can do anything, good or bad. To run our computers in a secure way, we should have been logged in with limited privileges, to prevent adware/spyware/viruses from making unannounced changes to our system. This is one of the primary reasons that Linux/Unix users claim that their operating systems are safer to run than Windows. (You'll hear much more about all this as we start talking about Vista.)

Quickbooks is the most visible example of a program that could not run unless the logged-in user had administrator privileges. We could have been far safer on our computers if we could have logged in with a limited "user" account for the last few years, but Quickbooks couldn't run that way - along with a lot of other programs. Quickbooks writes entries in a lot of places in the registry that are not accessible by users with limited privileges. Workarounds are clumsy at best and impossible at worst.

Internet Explorer 7 tightens your computer's security while you're online - and Quickbooks throws a fit after you install it, because Quickbooks is built in large part on Internet Explorer. Intuit acted as if IE7 was a surprise and the best it could offer for a couple of months was advice to uninstall IE7. Now there's new updates and I believe this is the current situation.

• Quickbooks 2003 and earlier will never run with IE7 installed. Intuit's response: tough. Buy a new version.
• Quickbooks 2004 has some online features that won't work, but you can turn off its warning message.
• Quickbooks 2005 and 2006 will work with the most recent update.

That's not a great result - there's a lot of people using Quickbooks 2003 out there - but it's progress of a sort. There's an even ruder awakening in store, though.

As things stand, it appears that no version of Quickbooks will run on Windows Vista other than Quickbooks 2007. Even if the program can be made to run, Intuit does not plan to offer support for any version earlier than Quickbooks 2007 running on Vista - a crucial consideration for businesses and bookkeepers.

Intuit is going to be a significant roadblock for some people who might decide not to get the security and new features in Windows Vista because they want to continue using a familiar and trusted version of Quickbooks to run their business. The security problems with Quickbooks are longstanding, and Intuit's failure to solve them is starting to look irresponsible.

Labels: IE, software, Vista

posted by bruceb at 12/26/2006 11:20:00 AM | permalink

FIX FOR SLOW IE7 PHISHING FILTER
A few people have complained that Internet browsing was slow or erratic after installing Internet Explorer 7. I haven't been able to find a pattern to explain that - no widespread reports of similar problems online, nothing other than scattered problems among my clients.

Microsoft has acknowledged that the built-in phishing filter can slow down IE7 in some circumstances. It's unclear how big a problem that describes, but it gives you something to try if you feel things have slowed down.

When you travel to a web page, the phishing filter sends each URL to a Microsoft server to check out its bonafides before allowing IE7 to display the page. The slowdown reportedly occurs when a page is made up of multiple components, each of which has its own URL to be checked. That presumably generates a lot of traffic clogging your connection, but interestingly it also apparently maxes out your processor - Microsoft's tech document calmly notes that "CPU usage may be very high" when the phishing filter is working.

Microsoft's workaround is simple: turn off the phishing filter and see if things speed up. (It's listed separately on the menu under "Tools.")

Microsoft also released a patch specifically addressed at that problem. It's not included in the automatic update system so it has to be installed separately. I don't have any experience with it yet so I don't know whether it will have any profound effect but it might be worth a try. (From the list, choose "Windows XP with Service Pack 2, x86-based versions.") Here's an article about the update.

Labels: IE, software, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 12/16/2006 11:54:00 AM | permalink

IE7 & THE LANGUAGE BAR
The Windows XP language bar reappears in the lower right-hand corner after installing Internet Explorer 7. It makes it easy to change the default language used by Windows XP, or to work with speech recognition and text-to-speech features.

I'm sure people use the language bar; I just happen not to have met any of them during the last seven years. If you're not using any language other than English, you can turn it off.

If the language bar is visible, you'll see 2-3 buttons next to the icons by the clock - the one on the left is typically Microphone. Right-click on it and click on Settings. (If you click on Close, the buttons will reappear when the computer is restarted.) Click on the Advanced tab and check the box to Turn off advanced text services.

Labels: IE, software, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 11/27/2006 10:07:00 PM | permalink

INTERNET EXPLORER 7 - TABBED PAGES, ZOOM
It took me a long time to get used to the tabbed pages in Internet Explorer 7, but I'm starting to learn some of the shortcuts that bring them to life. Try some of these tips!

• Right-click on links and click on Open In New Tab, OR hold the Ctrl key while you click, to open a page on a new tab in the same Internet Explorer window.
• Use Ctrl-T to open a tab on a blank window, and Ctrl-W to close a tab.
• If you have several windows open in tabs, click on the Quick Tabs button at the top, to the left of the tabs, for a visual look at all open pages.
• Next to the Quick Tabs button is a down arrow that displays a Tab List - a short menu with the page titles of all open tabs.
• Use Ctrl-Tab to move from one tab to the other without taking your hands off the keyboard (like using Alt-Tab to switch between programs).

Internet Explorer 6 had a fairly clumsy menu item that would change the font size of text on screen - occasionally helpful but more often screwing up the page layout. Down in the lower right corner of the Internet Explorer 7 window is a far more helpful zoom control. Click on it to zoom in and out of the entire page, or click on the down arrow by it to pick a specific zoom level.

Zoom shortcuts: hold the Ctrl key down and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, or use Ctrl-plus and Ctrl-minus on the keyboard.

Not bad, eh?

Labels: IE, software

posted by bruceb at 11/03/2006 11:51:00 PM | permalink

IE7 ADDED TO AUTOMATIC UPDATES
Yesterday Microsoft added Internet Explorer 7 to the Automatic Updates system, so your computer will begin prompting you soon to install the upgrade. I suggest you install it; the new security features are important.

It is a big overhaul of your system. Don't run other programs while it's being installed and expect the process to take 15-20 minutes.

Good luck!

Labels: IE

posted by bruceb at 11/02/2006 08:21:00 AM | permalink

PROBLEMS WITH MCAFEE PRODUCTS AND IE7
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 changes many security defaults, and a few applications are having problems with that. McAfee has put up this page of instructions about how to make its products update correctly after IE7 is installed.

Go take a look at the instructions. A couple of things come to mind.

First: that is a stunningly awful thing to put customers through. It is hard to understand how Symantec and McAfee got to the point that every single interaction with their programs is a struggle.

And second: did IE7 take McAfee by surprise? It's been in development for years and I'm not aware of any sneaky last minute maneuvers by Microsoft to change its security settings. Why didn't McAfee change their programs long ago to avoid putting people through an ordeal like this?

Labels: IE, security, software

posted by bruceb at 11/01/2006 01:09:00 PM | permalink

INTERNET EXPLORER 7
Internet Explorer 7 is now available as an official release. I recommend it to everyone running Windows XP SP2. Here's an article about today's release.

The new browser looks different! Install it when you have a few minutes to find things onscreen that aren't where you expect them. If you're the kind of person who will be upset that a button has moved - there's no rush. Relax. Get used to the idea.

The installation took about fifteen minutes on my computer and required two restarts. This is a major upgrade; close all other programs and leave your computer alone while it's installing IE7.

During the next few weeks, Microsoft will add IE7 to Automatic Updates, but it will not be installed behind your back. You will be presented with a license agreement before IE7 is installed; it's unclear how insistent it will be if you decline to install it the first time. You will upgrade eventually; the security improvements and the new features are compelling.

I'm optimistic that this will be a successful upgrade and a stable program for all of you. No guarantees but early signs are good. And for what it's worth - this final release is very fast indeed. Pages are flying on my screen.

Good luck!

Labels: IE

posted by bruceb at 10/18/2006 11:01:00 PM | permalink

INTERNET EXPLORER 7
Internet Explorer 7 will be delivered in final form soon (possibly tomorrow), and it will be installed automatically on everyone's computers through Automatic Updates shortly thereafter. You may wake up one morning soon and be greeted by a different IE interface. Don't panic!

Everyone's attention is caught first by the little things. For me, the IE7 home button is in the wrong place, the back button is too small, the refresh button is in an odd place. I've gotten used to those pretty quickly, as always with interface changes, and now I'm more focused on the important security improvements and, of course, the single most important step forward: pages are automatically scaled for printing so the right side won't be cut off.

Labels: IE

posted by bruceb at 10/09/2006 11:43:00 AM | permalink