internet explorer 7

is the new ie any good?
and why does it say release candidate 1? is it a beta or something?
and is it better than firefox?

 

I havent used IE 7 Yet i just use 6 and i personally dont see the difference or the need to change. If you wanna change go to Firefox.

It doesnt take as much resources as IE does.

 

From a securiy standpoint, don't even think of using IE. It is easily the most insecure consumer software product in the history of computing. From a securiy perspective, new versions usually mean new holes to boot. Firefox or Opera is definitely the way to go. However, even those you should harden by disabling Java, and maybe also disable XPInstall on Firefox.

 

what do you mean disable xpinstall?
i do use firefox, i was just thinking of changing back becuase all the new security features. becuase my firefox aint very stable.
some times it doesnt repond when i go to yahoo games it straight doesnt respond after a few minutes so i have to use ie

 

You can disable XPInstall by going going into about:config (in your URL bar) and setting xpinstall.enabled to FALSE. You will have to temporarily re-enable and reinstall the browser it if you want to install new add-ons. XPInstall and GeckoactiveX was Mozilla's interpretation of the Microsoft technology. Why the Mozilla people took a feature from Microsoft which had become the scourge of the internet and add it to their product is another topic for another time, but at least the Mozilla folks took some security precautions Microsoft didn't, and still hasn't. However, XPInstall has had some security problems of it's own, but they are easily preventable by disabling it unless it's needed.

DO NOT go back to IE. Don't even think about it - the number and severity of IE exploits is staggering, not to mention commonplace. It's the most insecure consumer software product in the history of computing, maybe the most insecure period. Perhaps use it just to play Yahoo games if you can't get it to work with the Sun Java that Firefox uses, but go no where else than Yahoo games. IE is the biggest security threat on the internet - it's basically an open door onto your machine. I can't stress this enough because I'm always dealing with the results of IE use.

 

thanks for your detalied help but...
what does xpinstall do?

 

It allows you to install and run Firefox-specific applications. The Firefox extensions/Add-ons are primarily what it's designed for because Firefox is designed for numerous platforms and OS'. XPInstall enables them to run regardless of hardware platform or operating system.

The problem is, XPInstall objects can be downloaded and executed by any old website, if it weren't for certain precautions taken by the developers of Firefox, such as restricting sites and employing a countdown timer so you don't accidentally click OK to approve an installation unintentionally. Internet Explorer/Windows uses similar features (ActiveX) with even fewer precautions that can be bypassed under some conditions. However, the Firefox XPInstall had some security issues early-on. Those problems still crop up every once in a while, just like IE's ActiveX. But unlike IE, XPInstall downloads can be easily disabled and won't bug you about it until and if you decide you want to re-enable it, and without crippling any installed XPInstall applications.

 

thanks

 

I know that this is off topic but do guys uninstall IE after using firefox? Do you guys remove IE at all?

 

no, i kept it on. incase i need to use it

 

I see.

 

It depends on the situation but mostly no for me, but I have a need to run it every once in awhile (for non-web-browsing work). But for best security I would recommend doing so: The main thing is, there are lots of programs that will try to run IE e.g. to run HTML-based help for a software package, even if you have Firefox or another browser set as the default. If the HTML help, for example, links to websites, then you could run into trouble.

A lot of people don't realize this, but Windows is actually a pretty secure OS once you strip out Microsoft's higher-level apps, specifically IE, Outlook, and Windows Media Player.

 

So are you saying that its ok if I remove IE in my computer?

 

i say you should keep it just incase incase you need it for the microsoft site. (website updates etc)

 

ok

 

Personally, I wouldn't. With Firefox or Opera you can use Windizupdate.com to perform updates just like you would with Windows Update. However, the next best thing is to set the internet zone security settings to "highest" and block IE from connecting to the internet in your firewall, and enabling it only temporarily on a per-case basis.

 

why would you need to do that?
what if your not using the program?

 

I mentioned above that some software runs IE by default, regardless of your default browser setting, exposing you do some level of risk. Also, there are a number of insecure processes that use IEXPLORE.EXE. I'm actually a bit on the fence about total removal of IE, but I certainly believe it should not be allowed to connect to the internet except on an as-needed basis.

 

I know one in particular and that is MSN. Everytime you open your hotmail using MSN messanger it always goes to IE even if your default browser is firefox.

I didn't remove IE on my computer just to be safe.

 

isnt there any way when you click on hotmail through msn messenger that it will use firefox.
i get that same problem too.