12 reasons not to use Internet Explorer, ever

[neo158]

Just did. If u cant do manually, try revo uninstaller. No traces here of Chrome. Tried on my Windows and OSX and both clean. Will format and reinstall.

BTW removed IE 9 here and IE 8 is usable now, but my Steam has stopped working after that. See what I mean? Wierd things happen when u remove IE.

OK, take a look at the services console and you'll see Google Updater still listed, I know it's nothing to worry about but still you'd expect the uninstaller to remove it.

That's wierd about Steam though, it shouldn't have stopped working seeing as it's now based on Webkit instead of Trident.

[Derrick Lonnell]

Internet Explorer is a good browser i use it all the time plus its fast fo me and had no problems

[guitmz]

Yeah wierd about steam!

GU was also removed ;s with revo uninstaller on windows and on OSX automatically. W/O revo, it remains but doesnt makes any diff.

[neo158]

dude, i think you need to get your facts straight about chrome, it's had Hardware Acceleration since version 12 (you had to enable it manually back in that version but it is now enabled by default and still being improved upon)

though I will say IE9 currently has the best hardware acceleration

The last time I used Chrome was version 12 so thanks for correcting me but you're right about IE9, no matter what anyone says IE9 wins hands down for hardware acceleration.

Yeah wierd about steam!

GU was also removed ;s with revo uninstaller on windows and on OSX automatically. W/O revo, it remains but doesnt makes any diff.

The only thing I could recommend is trying a repair install of Steam. I might have to give Revo Uninstaller a try.

[Max Norris]

It doesnt matters how much vulns it has and yes which ones! A super-mega blackhat underground xploit that 3 crackers in whole world can perform probably cant harm ur browser cause they tend to be specific to some targets but that tons of vulns kiddies does everyday can. That's IE issue, weak on the most popular issues. But nvm, use it then.

There's no such thing as a 100% secure browser, just some better than others. If that's a concern then just run whatever browser in a sandboxed environment, problem solved. There's a few programs that'll let you do this with any program, some free, some commercial. If your browser gets his by an exploit, just erase or recover the sandbox and move on.

[+Warwagon MVC]

i haven't run internet explorer in years... i always uninstall it from my windows box.

No you don't! You just delete the the shortcut!

[guitmz]

I'll format my pc and re-install steam :) I was already to do it ;D

[link8506]

I just can't understand why the IE team don't spend more time developing a decent extensions framework as that's clearly a feature that users find attractive, both in FF and Chrome. Reputation aside, I honestly think that that's the one big thing holding IE back at this stage.

I think there will NEVER be any official extension framework on IE. Actually, there are Browser Helper Objects (some kind of extensions written in C) since IE3 (1996), but there won't be a javascript based framework like in firefox, because extensions are fundamentaly dangerous!

BHO are of course dangerous too, but everybody knows that, since the user has to run a potentially dangerous EXE/MSI file to install a BHO, and of course a malicious EXE or MSI file can already do much damages without even having to install a BHO.

But Firefox extensions are even more dangerous, because people install a lot of extensions coming from unknown developers, thinking that Firefox extensions are inherently safer than EXE/MSI files, which is a completely flase assumption!

firefox extensions are as dangerous as NPAPI plugins, ActiveX controls, or EXE files (or any application type on osx/linux), because once installed, their can run arbitrary native code with the same privileges as the firefox process (and then, install malwares on the user profile, or on the computer if firefox is running as root), and that is true on any OS (windows/osx/linux)

And even without having to run native code, a fully javascript-based malware can be written as a firefox extension pretending to offer some features (like a youtube video downloader), and run each time firefox is started (then, the malicious extension can sniff paypal/email account password, credit card numbers, and send them to a server owned by a malicious hacker). The same is true for other browsers and extensions framework.

Unfortunately, power users installing tons of extensions fail to understand that, and expect their antivirus or outbound firewall to protect them, but even outbound firewalls won't tell the user about malicious extensions contacting a malicious server, because everything happens from within the firefox process, which is usually whitelisted for http/https outbound connections. Recently, mozilla removed a malicious extension from its extension gallery which sent the complete user browsing history to a third party server. But thousands of users had already installed this extension before mozilla was contacted by a researcher who detected this malicious behavior.

That's why in IE8, microsoft has explored some other ways to extend the browser without allowing potentially malicious code:

-web slices (which have not proved popular) were supposed to enable the classic scenarios of extensions that just tell the user when content they're interested in has been updated, and peek into it without opening a full tab.

-accelerators: which enable to send content selected in the browser to another service (like bing maps when an address is selected, or google translation when the user want to translate the selected text)

And in IE9:

-pinned site: which enable sites to send visual notifications to the user, like the number of unread messages for facebook, without the need to install a potentially malicious facebook notifier extension!

Of course these features are not as powerful as firefox extensions or BHO, but they are 100% secure, and support the most classic scenarios where users would want to use an extension on firefox (facebook or gmail notifier, youtube downloader, translator,...)

And since IE9 already include a good javascript/CSS debugger (IE developer tools, since IE8), and an ad-blocker (tracking protection set on the Easylist tracking protection list blocks most ads), there is no much need for any other extension!

[guitmz]

No you don't! You just delete the the shortcut!

+1

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

9 is my main reason.

And i have nothing at all against IE, I think they have literally made leaps and bounds with the latest version and I actually liked what I saw when I have checked it out, I just find Firefox suits my several computer two OS situation that I have going on the best. I am sure Chrome is even capable of that as well, I just also stick with what I know, and have used FF for a long time now.

[remixedcat]

umm I can get accellerators for firefox.....

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/context-search/ (I use this one!)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/universal-search-ie-8-accelera/ (not for 5 yet though) (My Patched link here )

and for facebook notf. you can get FFixer greasemonkey script and it will append the # of not. to the tab title.....

like this: remixedcat (1) instead of : Facebook|remixedcat (1)

so it's more noticeable.

[link8506]

umm I can get accellerators for firefox.....

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/context-search/ (I use this one!)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/universal-search-ie-8-accelera/ (not for 5 yet though)

and for facebook notf. you can get FFixer greasemonkey script and it will append the # of not. to the tab title.....

like this: remixedcat (1) instead of : Facebook|remixedcat (1)

so it's more noticeable.

but you have to install potentially malicious extensions to do that, which completely defeats the point of IE's accelerators/pinned sites feature (that is, to enable some kind of extensibility without having to run code written by someone who may have malicious intents) :rolleyes:

and since these concepts are very simple and secure, they won't break at each new browser version. Actually, even firefox or chrome could support IE's accelerators/pinned sites natively, without extensions, if google/mozilla wanted so.

[Max Norris]

but you have to install potentially malicious extensions to do that, which completely defeats the point of IE's accelerators/pinned sites feature (that is, to enable some kind of extensibility without having to run code written by someone who may have malicious intents) :rolleyes:

Thats a risk you run with any browser, IE included... IE's had its fair share of malicious plugins too. What do you do for features that IE doesn't have? Basically don't download random stuff from untrusted sources, you know, common sense and all that.

[nytiger73]

Yep, sure does, I'm using it right now with the 64 bit Debian port of Sun Java and it's working just dandy.

Maybe we should expand on that a little. There is no 64 bit version for WINDOWS. Those versions of Chrome do absolutely nothing for the average user.

[Stingray]

Just horrible. How can someone use that piece of crap?

[hotdog666al]

Anyone who actively supports Internet Explorer over the alternative browsers instantly loses all respect from me.

[remixedcat]

but you have to install potentially malicious extensions to do that, which completely defeats the point of IE's accelerators/pinned sites feature (that is, to enable some kind of extensibility without having to run code written by someone who may have malicious intents) :rolleyes:

and since these concepts are very simple and secure, they won't break at each new browser version. Actually, even firefox or chrome could support IE's accelerators/pinned sites natively, without extensions, if google/mozilla wanted so.

and what makes those .exe files any safer?

[Jan Veteran]

Wow lots of idiots in this thread.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

there ARE a lot of idiots in here

IE9 is a legitly good browser, Microsoft did a great job with it (are doing a great job with a lot of their products lately for that matter)

it's just that it's still not my first choice for a main browser

[+Heartripper Subscriber¹]

Even though the points are quite good, the article is pretty pointless because everyone should use the browser he likes the most, and it's easy to come up with a list of "n reasons not to use x browser", where x could be ie, firefox, chrome, opera, etc.

[fenderMarky]

Wow lots of idiots in this thread.

Agree... but you have to understand that these people have only recently discovered that they can install software on their computers and they are in ecstasy for this. Let the children play!

[Lion and Lamb Ministry]

The BIGGEST issue with IE is that, all through it's history, it can't render sites properly.

FAR WORSE than Opera ever was.

If FF and Chrome can render the great majority of sites properly, why can't Microsoft with IE?

Just as an example:

I use Windows Live Writer to post blogs. With FF , Chrome, or Opera, I can copy the source of the blog from Live Writer and paste it to Facebook Notes, and it will post FLAWLESSLY! Every time. Now with IE9 it completely butchers any URL's that are in the post, and doesn't line-space properly either. So you have to ask, WHY can't Microsoft make this right?

I can go on and on with numerous examples of site-render butchering perpetrated by IE9, but I will stop here...

[fix-this!]

No you don't! You just delete the the shortcut!

whatever... i still never use it.

[Xerax]

and it's a little more secure, what's the problem?

Chrome is more secure than IE? I really do hope that is sarcastic. :pinch:

[danny62381]

Anyone who actively supports Internet Explorer over the alternative browsers instantly loses all respect from me.

You sir, need to work in a corporate IT Department. Maybe then you'll understand all the different group policy options, deployment tools, and the ease of update management that IE offfers. The other browsers either don't have these options, or these options are very minimal.

Same way with Apple Computers. Great computers for Joe Collegestudent, nightmare for any corporate IT department due to lack of functionality.

Yes, there are loads of things that IE doesn't do, and yes, a lot of web developers seem to "like" Firefox, but they are "home/personal use" programs.

Just because things look shiny and pretty doesn't mean everytihng else is junk. Sometimes it's under the hood that matters. I refer to the whole thing as the "blackberry incendent". RIM produces a phone with strong cryptography, advanced server management features, 3 years later Apple comes out with a phone with a big shiny screen, huge icons, and no server management features \ less cryptography. People go wild over the latter, they think "OoOoooOOOo Shiny!"