Comments on: Rendering IE harmless

by: greg guepy

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:40:08 +0000

ps - funny … as i post this i notice i’m in IE, brand new install because somehow, somewhere something infected my machine and after a week of fighting it, decided my time would be better spent formatting and rebuilding my machine.

i’ve actually used Acronis to image my laptop after the new install … fully updated with all my critical apps. next time, it will be a 10 minute process getting my os drive back up. live and learn.

by: Greg Guepy

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 00:35:49 +0000

i fight this browser everyday … i oversee about 100 users, most aren’t “power users” and by that i’m being nice. i run the network and i handle the IT chores.

as much as i would like to swap out IE for Firefox (and for this crowd, deleting shortcuts would suffice) i simply can’t.

every single manufacturer that we deal with needs active x in under to use their site. what i have done is i have disabled all active x settings in the security settings, and then allow these few trusted sites to the trusted sites list where they have no restrictions. this is working well so far … but it’s tough as every other site doesn’t work right … luckily most are personal sites. i’m sure there are still problems that i’ll run into.

i guess my point is that while it’s one thing for novice users to use IE, it’s another when in this day and age, webmasters and programmers code sites in a way that without active x the site isn’t usable. it’s sad … because these apps can easily be rewritten to use simple posts, leaving the intelligence, validation and processing on the server side.

by: Joe

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 20:47:39 +0000

Your new program access choices option won’t help for file browsing. But if you turn off the sidebar that includes the preview you should be ok. To do that go to Folder Options, General, then select Use Windows Classic folders.

by: Joe

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:09:05 +0000

You could also raise the Security and Privacy levels. Then on the Advanced tab you can disable the Install on Demand options and Third Party Extentions. There must also be some way to disable Scripts though that will make Windows Update not work, but your method already does that so I assume you are updating manually. You should also check out the Policy Editor, usually found on the Windows CD.

Your proxy trick can also be used for other mail clients. I used it with Netscape 4 for years before I finally gave in and upgraded to Thunderbird this summer. I just told it to use a proxy for HTTP so mail still downloaded fine. That prevented any spammer image bugs from opening.

by: Administrator

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 15:58:54 +0000

I’ve fixed the Alternatives/Options.

And you’re probably right. So for registering programs (and who knows what else), that could foul things up. But for clueless users, how often do they register programs? At the same time, if I really DID set some clueless user’s system this way, I should probably be close at hand for fixing problems that arise from my settings.

On the other hand, I’ve seen way too many times that clueless users go back to Internet Explorer after a day or a week, for some undisclosed reason. They don’t realize the danger they inflict on themselves.

You know, for a corporate environment, I’d think this setting would be wonderful if the computer jockeys are serious about steering their users away from Internet Explorer!

And for me, I’d rather switch the settings when I need to switch them.

I’ll keep the localhost proxy setting, and if I experience problems, I’ll detail them.

by: Manni

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 15:11:14 +0000

Setting the proxy for IE to something that doesn’t exist is not a bad idea. But you should be aware that, as usual, IE’s settings are also Windows’ settings. Many programs use the proxy settings for their own connections. Simply because they ask Windows for a proxy and get what you set for IE.

(btw: I think the menu entry is called ‘Internet Options’, not ‘Alternatives’).