After spending most of the past 24 hrs removing the"about:blank" browser hijacker from my system, using a combination of;
ad-aware se, spybot s&d,norton antivirus, hijack this,and cwshredder,along with countless hours of googling and searching for answers.
I've come to the conclusion that IE really is a crappy product, compared to the alternative browsers out there. Ffom now on I'm sticking with firefox.
rags
Browser Happy! :cheekygreen:
about:blank happens to be the homepage for me in IE, that way it loads quicker :lol
As for the hijack, it looks relatively simple to remove - for a human, that is. For some reason, most of the anti-malware vendors seem to find it quite hard to build logic in that gets rid of this sort of stuff. And from the instructions i have seen, they are a little extreme, there should be no need to go to the recovery console, sites giving advice like this obviously do not understand exactly how these bits of malware work.
In any case, if you run either the TeaTimer component from Spybot Search & Destroy, or MS's anti-spyware beta, both of those will block this type of spyware because they actively monitor the affected registry keys, and will not allow them to be changed without prompting you.
In any case rags, you probably have to blame yourself a little - no doubt you are running as local admin, you are not running anti-spyware monitors, and you have not screwed down the zone permissions in IE. If you attend to those three simple things, you will avoid 99% of problems that affect IE. And you should only surf reputable pr0n sites :bg :green2
Quote from: sluggy on October 20, 2005, 10:26:10 AM
In any case rags, you probably have to blame yourself a little - no doubt you are running as local admin, you are not running anti-spyware monitors, and you have not screwed down the zone permissions in IE. If you attend to those three simple things, you will avoid 99% of problems that affect IE. And you should only surf reputable pr0n sites :bg :green2
your right sluggy, I usually use firefox for my 'surfing',but for some reason I chose to use IE that day.never again.I already have the monitors in place.
Until they do it to FoxFire. These people always target the big guy first. I have seen from the exploits against FireFox is just as vulnerable. It has not gotten as much attention from these kinds of exploits, yet! Then we will see how fast the anti-whatever can keep up with the number two(?) browser fixes.
Regards, P1 :8)
When there's an exploit found for Firefox, you can count on someone making a fix for it post haste. When there's an exploit found for IE, you can count on waiting for upwards of a month for Microsoft to release a patch that may or may not work correctly.
Firefox is, like it or not, inherently more secure than IE. It's just like people that say Linux or Mac OS is only more secure because no one uses it. While it's true that not many people bother trying to write exploits for them, they are still more secure at heart than Windows...
Quote from: Robert Bieber on October 20, 2005, 04:24:46 PMFirefox is, like it or not, inherently more secure than IE.
This like comparing a simplier form of something to a more complex form and expecting it to be the same. Does not work logically.
When FF gets to IE's level of function then we will compare. Then maybe M$ will keep up with it's browser.
Regards, P1 :8)
QuoteWhen FF gets to IE's level of function then we will compare.
IE is seven years behind Firefox functionality. It cannot handle xhtml or xml. It does not handle the DOM properly. It does not properly support some html tags. It does not support all CSS1 properly.
Will IE7 be better? No. IE7 will not support xhtml or xml or the DOM properly or all html tags. There will be seven css1 bug fixes and two css1 additions which should have been there in 1998 but no improvements.
IE7 will have all the functionality of standards set in 1998.
Someone on another board I follow thought they found a bug in FF a couple of days ago and reported it to them using Bugzilla. They got a report back from the developers(!) six hours later that the bug had been fixed.
IE is the crappiest browser out there.
Quote from: drhowarddrfine on October 20, 2005, 05:18:41 PMIE is seven years behind Firefox functionality. It cannot handle xhtml or xml. It does not handle the DOM properly. It does not properly support some html tags. It does not support all CSS1 properly.
It's a given that, FF has features that IE does not have. But then again, this also reverses the arguement that IE can not have those bugs that FF has with those features implemented.
Logically, we are talking above a union of two feature sets. With three result areas, the common feature set, so that can compare legitimately; IE unique features; FF unique features.
So our discussion, can center around to how fast M$ implements other features for commonality versus how fast FF implements other features for commonality.
Who says who is handling what properly? M$ is propriety software, which does not make it wrong. It's just the way they do it.
Does a majority make an issue of use right? IE is the majority. But it's not necessarily right.
Regards, P1 :8)
In this case, what's right is what provides a better browsing experience for the users, and given that there's loads of cool things you can do on the web for people using any browser other than IE, I think it's safe to say that isn't IE...
QuoteLogically, we are talking above a union of two feature sets.
No we're not. We are talking one feature set. That feature set is supplied by the w3c standards committee.
QuoteWho says who is handling what properly?
The w3c does, of which Microsoft is a member.
More importantly, even Microsoft admits to working toward standards compliance (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/07/29/445242.aspx) and that IE has "many of the worst bugs that web developers hit". While they are fixing those bugs in IE7, they have added only two css features written in 1999!
QuoteM$ is propriety software, which does not make it wrong. It's just the way they do it.
But the internet is NOT Microsoft proprietary software and if they don't want to do things the right way then it IS wrong.
IE is a cancer on the web (http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowspaulthurrott/Article/ArticleID/47208/windowspaulthurrott_47208.html)
Need any more proof that IE thouroughly sucks? Go to this site (http://garcondanslenoir.1l.com/blog.php) in IE, and then in a browser that works properly. It really is an amazing design. That is, if your browser can handle it...
Interesting article at Informit about "Why is Microsoft Afraid of Google?". (http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=422061&rl=1) Some particular comments made by university business professors, not web people.
"...Microsoft, however, tends to focus on stopping the onslaught of the web -- which it did very well with Internet Explorer in the late 90s --"
"...there have been no major new improvements in Internet Explorer in years."
"It's not clear how much Microsoft actually believes that the web is the platform of the future."
After the Monopoly Anti-Trust, keeping some distance from the other browsers, has kept them from more legal troubles.
You can't please everyone when your that big, damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Regards, P1 :8)
Not to change the subject but just out of curriosity what does M$ mean? I see it quit often.
Quote from: Robert Collins on October 25, 2005, 04:02:32 PMNot to change the subject but just out of curriosity what does M$ mean? I see it quit often.
It's a dig at MS = Microsoft, but their interest is not in users, but the users' money. Hence the M$, so it's not (S)oftware, but the ($).
I will admit, I'm a M$ developer working in a M$ $hop, but doe$ not mean I agree with everything they do or $ay. The copy protection they have put into their $oftware was to DROP the
price. That wa$ in 2001, 911 happen, $ale$ went $oft. And the raised the
price to keep the
ca$h flow going. And a$ far a$ I know, no drop $ince.
Regards, P1 :8)
Well, do the executives like that dig?
Quote from: Robert Collins on October 25, 2005, 05:51:06 PM
Well, do the executives like that dig?
In my pocket. :green2
Regards, P1 :8)
Actually, in talking with some of my friends at Microsoft, the general consensus is that they love it. It is free advertising even if it appears to have a negative going edge. Microsoft has the ball rolling and it just is not going to stop so they pretty much don't give a hoot.
Paul
How foolish! Free negative advertising? :lol No wonder IE is going down the tubes. They have dunces working there.
Thank you for your opinion.
Paul
Quote from: drhowarddrfine on October 20, 2005, 08:19:35 PM
IE is a cancer on the web (http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowspaulthurrott/Article/ArticleID/47208/windowspaulthurrott_47208.html)
People have the choice to use whatever browser they choose. If they choose not to do some research to make good decisions then they will experience the consequences. Maybe they're happy having limited choices and functionality. :-)
But them using the crappy browser encourages web developers to make things that work best in the crappy browser and foresaking all the great features they could normally incorporate into their stuff. So IE use really perpetuates a nasty vicious cycle.
QuoteBut them using the crappy browser encourages web developers to make things that work best in the crappy browser and foresaking all the great features they could normally incorporate into their stuff. So IE use really perpetuates a nasty vicious cycle.
One of the things that seems to be lost in this discussion is that the majority of people out there using the web haven't a clue nor do they care about "what browser does this" and "what browser does that".
Nor do they give a shake what some anonymous techie online thinks about it either. Techie's being in the vast minority of overall web surfers nowadays anyway.
All they care about is checking their e-mail, navigating for information ,games ,watching Brittany shake it and/or the latest Janet Jackson nudie video. ( like most techie's :green2)
If they can get that stuff they couldn't care less if they are using IE, firefox or bubba's patch work inbred deliverance and beauty tips browser. It's all the same to them.
There is no way there is going to be some kinda browser revolt. Too few care. If it does what they need it'll be used.
sheesh ::)
What would be really nice would be if M$ just wouldn't ship IE anymore, but would include Firefox with Windows instead. That way, it wouldn't be an issue. I mean, think about it, what benefit do they get from making a browser? They make no money off of it, and it costs them man hours in development. So why not just use one that's already better?
Three things and I'm done with this.
1) On the web development sites we go over and over this with newbies about how to develop for the web. They see the error of IEs ways quickly but it gets really tiresome and I'm easily irritated by it.
2) The benefit MS achieves is that if you must use IE to use websites then you must also use Windows since IE is unavailable elsewhere.
3) If we compare the internet to television, where would we be without standards if different televisions displayed video with different standards? The big holdup with hdtv for a while was standards setting and even now the networks don't all use the same method (780p/1080i). There is no FCC of the internet except the W3C but it's not a federal entity.
IE Sucks! Firefox Sucks! They all suck! Everyone should use my browser instead and believe me it sucks too!
I know that I'm late to this thread but I just gotta respond.
What is wrong with you people? I think it's great that IE is a bug-ridden, broken, virus magnet which is used by the 90% of people who don't have a clue.
1. It means that, for the most part, virus/malware authors can't be bothered targeting the rest of us who have the brains to install a more solid browser.
2. It keeps developers in work (writing AV/firewall/malware detecting software, sysadmins/contractors who get paid to fix systems after they've been destroyed by the latest malware on the net). That's us peeps!!
3. It's a quick lithmus test of computer using competency. eg.
a) using IE = stoopid
b) using firefox/opera/etc. = prolly has some clue
c) using (b) with firewall/AV/malware detectors = likely to be competent
Viva the status quo!
regards,
-Brent