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Question
Regarding your program on Spyware that was broadcast on January 30, 2005. I have the following three questions:
- It was indicated that a user might want to consider using other browsers instead of Internet ExplorerÝ
and it seemed to indicate this had something to do with Active X controls. ÝWouldn't it be simpler to simply turn
off the Active X Controls within Internet Explorer, rather than install a whole new browser? ÝThe program didn't
address this, Ýand so I would like to find out , because it seems to me that I would prefer the option of simply
turning off the Active X controls.
- It seems like whenever I vist any web site, the web site uses pop-ups for other reasons than for ads, Ý
i.e. the pop-ups are used to display information that I need. ÝAnd so I am constantly having to temporarily
turn off the pop-up blocker. ÝWhy do web sites put their useful information into pop-up type displays, Ýand would it
be better for me to simply turn off the pop-up blocker altogether?
- The program talked a lot about cookies, Ýbut it didn't say whether a person should periodically delete cookies from their computer. Ý
There is a button within Internet Explorer that allows you to delete cookies, Ýand so it is quite easy to delete them. But I
wasn't able to determine from your program whether it is recommended that we should do so. Ý So should we periodically delete cookies?
Answer
A "Tech Talk" staff member responded:
Thanks for watching Tech Talk. Ý In regards to your first question:
I did say that Active X is one of the components in Internet Explorer that can make you more vulnerable,
however there are also other scripting languages and elements that make it more susceptible to spyware and more
importantly, viruses.
If you go to
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx and filter the list to only Internet Explorer 6, you can see a list
of all exploits that have been found thus far for the newest version
of the software. There are problems with how it handles HTML (the language of web pages), JPEGs (a common web
picture format), and ADODB object handling (a component of Active X) to point out a few.
A web browser that we've had a lot of success with is Firefox. It is based off of Mozilla, which is the slimmed down version
of Netscape. I'm not saying that this browser is perfect, but it has had a lot fewer issues than Internet Explorer. You,
however, may still need Internet Explorer for certain pages. This would include pages that feature Active X or
any .NET technology.
Firefox is also very easy to install. When you run the program for
the first time, it will ask you if you would like to copy your bookmarks, cookies, and history from Internet Explorer.
With your second question:
The built in popup blockers do have a way for you to make permanent exceptions for websites. I'll detail how to do this
for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Internet Explorer: In Internet Explorer, click on Tools, and choose Internet Options. Now select the Privacy tab and click
the settings button. In the blank for the website you want to allow type the site but prepend it with a star.
Example: *.umn.edu or *.microsoft.com. Click close, click OK.
Firefox: In Firefox, click Tools, and select Options. Click on Web Features in the left column and then click on the first
Allowed Sites button. In the Address of web site blank type the address where you want popups to appear but prepend it with
a star. Example: *.yahoo.com or *.download.com.
For your third question:
You don't ever have to delete your cookies if you don't want to. Cookies are kinda like name tags, they only identify who
you are while you're at the event you're attending (or the website or service that the cookie is for). They don't actively
do anything while they are residing on your computer. If you are having goofy things happening on a web page like getting
errors after logging in or another user of the computer's name instead of yours appearing, then you can try deleting your
cookies, clearing your internet cache, and possible restarting your computer. Then try revisiting the page.
I hope this answers all of your questions. Thanks for your interest in our program.
— The Tech Talk Staff
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