Questions about IE7 and Firefox

[tmazz]

Saw this thread about browsers and thought I would pass along this info that I got from one of the on-line IT  newsletters. Many people (myself included) who have been using Firefox and Chrome have chosen not to install the IE8 upgrade because they didn't plan on using it anyway so why risk running into installation problems (gee, where is the precedent for that?)
Well, it seems that this cam be problematic from a system security basis. It turns out that both FF & Chrome do application calls to the IE code set. So even if you are not running the IE program directly, you are still using the code. SO, if you have not installed IE8 and kept it up to date, you can have some serious security hole in whatever other browser you are using. This caught me by surprise, although it shouldn't have. When the EU tried to get MS to remove IE from Windows for antitrust reasons MS's reply was that they couldn't because other programs used parts of the IE code and would not run if IE was not there. At that time they were specifically referring to other components of Windows itself, but the same theory is in play here as well.

So the bottom line is that it is still important to have the latest MS browser9 and all its updates) installed on your machine, no matter what you are actually using as you browser.

Just thought you guys would like to know.

Tom

[shep]

hmm. I didn't install 8 when installing Win 7. The only thing hackers are going to find is a lot of gibberish about audio stuff. Still...if you say so. Groan

[mgalusha]

Windows uses the rendering engine in IE for a lot of things. Even if you use alternative browsers such as Chrome or Firefox it's a very good idea to keep IE as up to date and patched as possible.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Wow, I just caught up to this thread (haven't been receiving emails for topic replies). So it sounds like they've "got you" whether you like it or not. 
I've since gone back to the good old IE8. Seems to be the lesser of the evils compared to Chrome and FF.

Someday computers won't do what we don't want them to, and will do what we'd like them to do.
Until then........cheers and good luck. 

Bob

[djbnh]

Someday computers won't do what we don't want them to, and will do what we'd like them to do.

I've been using Win7 Pro and find it does much more of what I want it to do. Tons faster as well.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yes, the Win7 pro has some very nice helpful features indeed. Not sure I noticed a difference in speed though. Overall I'd recommend it.

Bob