MetaFilter posts tagged with IE and internetexplorer

Zero-Day

chuckdarwin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:33:52 -0800

BBC: Users of the world's most common web browser (good old IE!) have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed. Microsoft Security Advisory 961051. Microsoft Corp. has tipped off its users of a “huge increase” in hacking attacks exploiting a critical unpatched vulnerability in some versions of its flagship web-browser Internet Explorer (IE), and notified that some of these attacks have originated from hacked porn websites. In addition to IE7, other versions like IE 5 and IE 6 have also been found to be vulnerable to the flaw, which on proper exploitation could enable a hacker to seize complete control over victim’s computer, the company added. The flaw essentially originates from the improper handlings of DHTML data bindings due to a memory corruption error. Though the hackers have been exploiting the vulnerability for more than a week, the company notified an upswing in attacks over the weekend. Researchers Tareq Saade and Ziv Mador in one of their postings on Malware Protection Center blog said, “Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2 percent of users worldwide may have been exposed to websites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability”. The researchers purported that the hackers have now changed their methodology of attacks, as instead of using malicious websites for attacks, they are now using compromised legitimate websites to trick the users. Incidentally Trend Micro Inc has estimated that around 6,000 websites have been infected so far to exploit the vulnerability, with the count “quickly increasing in number”.

History of the browser user-agent string

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:31:46 -0800

History of the browser user-agent string

Use flash navigation? You're fucked.

Tlogmer — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 02:17:02 -0800

Patent squatters Eolas decide to break a significant portion of the websites in the world. (Previously)

IE goes boom!

Orange Goblin — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:40:47 -0800

Google pays $1 for every IE user converted to Firefox - but why? Google don't own Firefox, so is this only to piss off Microsoft?

Internet Explorer 7 announced

j.p. Hung — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 14:38:34 -0800

Internet Explorer 7 announced We've heard about it for a while and it's been discussed here before. Will the new version of I.E. be able to hold its own against open source browsers like Firefox?

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the browser.

weston — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:57:00 -0800

Internet Explorer 7. Dean Edwards does what a team of developers with billions behind them apparently can't -- update IE to work with modern standards. Almost, anyway... as he says, it's still in alpha, and has its quirks, but check out the Pure CSS Menus demo, for example.

Making IE Better

will — Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:40:10 -0800

Microsoft's IE team is calling for input into the future of their browser. Over lunch with Robert Scoble they communicated that they're working hard on security patches. So where do you come in?

"The team is looking to work with community members to improve Internet Explorer. That means blogs. That means taking harsh feedback. That means having a dialog about the future that's frank and as open as possible."

With an opportunity like this we should forgo mere whining and name calling, and participate.

Nasty new IE hole

dejah420 — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:28:08 -0800

A new MS Internet Explorer vulnerability is discovered. Most digerati already know about the spammer and lamer trick to publish URLs that look like legitimate hostnames to fool people in to trusting a malicious site. This trick is frequently used by spammers to steal people's PayPal accounts, by tricking them in to "resetting" their password at a site owned by the spammer but disguised as PayPal.com. Today's new IE vulnerability is significantly worse. By including an 0x01 character after the @ symbol in the fake URL, IE can be tricked in to not displaying the rest of the URL at all. Don't expect a patch right way, the guy who found the hole released it to BugTraq on the same day he notified Microsoft. (via Simon Willison)

All your plugin capability are belong to us

aaronshaf — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 13:40:25 -0800

Eolas® Technologies Inc. owns the plugin concept. Meet US Patent 5,838,906: "The patent claims to cover mechanisms for embedding objects within distributed hypermedia documents, where at least some of the object's data is located external to the document, and there is a control path to the object's implementation to support user interaction with the object." Eolas sued Microsoft, was awarded $521 million, Microsoft is appealing, and the W3C held (Macromedia hosted) an ad hoc meeting on the recent court decision and launched a discussion list. Microsoft plans to promptly make changes to Internet Explorer. If this follows through, what are the negative and positive implications?

Yet another reason to buy a mac

jonson — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 12:15:21 -0800

Microsoft to discontinue development of IE for the Mac... Surprisingly this apparently isn't being done because of the low market share for Macintosh, but rather as a side effect of the increasing integration (whether real or alleged) between IE and the Operating System, which on the Mac is closed, so MS can cease development as support for their claims of mandatory integration between browser & OS. I await the next step, mandatory integration between email & OS? IM? Media tools? Net access?

The Death of Netscape?

timeistight — Sat, 31 May 2003 09:39:42 -0800

AOL and Microsoft settle AOL's Netscape lawsuit. AOL gets $750 million and keeps IE as its default browser for seven years. Is this the death of Netscape?

judith — Fri, 11 Oct 2002 15:02:50 -0800

While MS-bashing is often too easy, this statement about recent security holes seemed especially astounding: "Outlook Express ships with every Windows system, or rather as part of IE, so it's on every system. But unless it is configured to receive mail, you are not at risk," said Scott Culp, manager for Microsoft security response. Interesting. Unless it is configured to receive mail, like, you know, an email program.

mathowie — Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:16:45 -0800

Using Internet Explorer, Outlook, or Outlook Express on a PC? There's a new hack in town, ready to exploit cross site scripts like nobody's business. Do yourself a favor and disarm ActiveX on your settings.

TNLNYC — Mon, 08 Jul 2002 20:11:43 -0800

One browser to rule them all... Looks like IE's win in the browser wars is strengthening its position as the de facto browser as more and more developers code to IE and IE only. I know a lot of MeFiers are developers. What do you do when you develop your sites?

hitsman — Tue, 22 Jan 2002 19:05:42 -0800

AOL's Netscape sues Microsoft for damage done to its Netscape Internet browser by violations of antitrust law found in a separate government case against the software giant. "I don't see this case as primarily about money. I see it as primarily about injunctive relief,'' said Steve Salop, a Georgetown University law professor.

crankydoodle — Fri, 14 Dec 2001 14:45:28 -0800

"MS releases mother of all IE security patches" Per the article: Microsoft has released a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer which the firm says is a "critical" security precaution against crackers which should be applied "immediately". Time to update/upgrade boys and girls. :)

holloway — Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:43:43 -0800

"Opening a file type previously considered safe, e.g. plain text or HTML file isn't safe with IE". (via email, you wouldn't know him)

mathowie — Mon, 27 Aug 2001 16:05:50 -0800

Internet Explorer 6 final is out for windows. Hopefully they've worked all the bugs out from the public beta. They're claiming full 100% standards support for DOM level 1 and CSS 1 (it only took five years!), though time will tell how accurate that claim is.

bgluckman — Fri, 06 Jul 2001 08:29:47 -0800

Whoops! Is it just me, or is anyone else having trouble looking at SAAB's US homepage in IE 5.0?

benjh — Thu, 28 Jun 2001 04:59:26 -0800

Microsoft Kills IE6 Smart Tags "External feedback" was one of the factors that led the company to remove the feature, although he indicated it could be resurrected in later versions. Perhaps the constant barrage of complaints worked on this one? They've got it working, now they are back peddling. I for one am glad, "No Squiggly Lines".

endquote — Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:29:56 -0800

To those who are interested in such things, IE 5.5 is out, with all kinds of new and not that important features, including those great colored scroll bars.

ericost — Thu, 11 May 2000 11:31:16 -0800

Any server can read all your IE cookies. From any domain. Anyone. I was just explaing to my folks that the reason cookies are (generally) safe is that this was NOT possible. Well, it's possible now.

ericost — Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:39:44 -0800

You know their server isn't particularly secure; well neither is their browser.

ericost — Wed, 12 Apr 2000 07:57:24 -0800

More from the WSP on IE5.5, "a browser that strikes out on complete support for any standard." Things are getting ugly.

Zeldman — Mon, 10 Apr 2000 06:16:53 -0800

The Web Standards Project blasts Microsoft's "arrogant" break with standards in IE 5.5/Windows Edition. Please read the press release and, if you agree, post it to your favorite mailing lists and news groups. This must not stand.