Microsoft releases Internet Explorer fix

CNet ^ | December 1, 2004 | Robert Lemos

[holymoly]

Microsoft published a patch for Internet Explorer on Wednesday, aiming to close a month-old hole that has been used by viruses to spread and by an ad banner attack to compromise PCs.

The vulnerability, dubbed the Internet Explorer Elements flaw by Microsoft, had previously been called the iFrame vulnerability. The issue--which does not affect Microsoft's major Windows XP security update, Service Pack 2--could allow an attacker to take control of a victim's PC, if the user is logged on as an administrator. Most home users tend to log onto Windows as administrators.

A Microsoft representative said the software giant had released the update before its next scheduled patch day, Dec. 7, because it had already been used by malicious software to compromise Windows users' PCs.

"That's one of the things that we factor in--when the customers are affected or there are active attacks," said Stephen Toulouse, security program manager at Microsoft's security response center.

An attacker can use the vulnerability to gain control of a person's computer when the victim clicks on a simple Web link. The attacker would then have complete control of the system, and could install programs, view, modify or delete data and create new accounts.

The patch arrived more than a month after news of the vulnerability was first posted on public security mailing lists. The move garnered criticism from Microsoft, which has led a drive to convince security researchers to give software makers at least 30 days to fix issues before outing the problem in public forums.

[JoJo Gunn]

Don't ever casually throw out crap about IE "uninstallers" which just possibly could break the OS. Those things are not for the Moms and Pops of the world, and can be a major headache even for seasoned computer users. It's better to just leave IE alone and forget it.

Mozilla, like MS, is no panacea. I've found there will be times you'll need IE, so I recommend the "view with IE" extension.

[Salo]

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

the download is at the bottom of the page.

[N3WBI3]

Well he is half right...

If you have FireFox, you don't get to do this.

Firefox has an update feature you get an indicator on your borwser when you need an update. You click it the update applies and then you *dont* have to resart your computer, just your borwser..

[holymoly]

Don't ever casually throw out crap about IE "uninstallers" which just possibly could break the OS.

As I recall, the poster asked if there was an "uninstaller" for IE. I'd seen it on that FAQ, and posted the info.

If I'd mentioned that IE is tied to the OS, and that I recommend against "uninstalling" it, I'd have been flamed by someone else.

Did you inform the other poster about this? Or just jump me about it?

[JoJo Gunn]

If I'd mentioned that IE is tied to the OS, and that I recommend against "uninstalling" it, I'd have been flamed by someone else.

Some days you just can't win, huh?

[edchambers]

(snip)"Define runs slower? do you mean load slower, draws pages slower???"

I thought I was pretty specific, I said it starts slower as in takes twice as long to load even longer if you're if your starting with a few pages open in tabs.And yes this is probably because IE preloads.I'd rather not have either preload if I can help it but if you let me know how to turn this on and off in either I'll play with it when I have time.Also others have commented that it renders slower than IE this is something I wouldn't notice since I usually start with 4 pages open in tabs which is a hell of alot faster than the favorites menu in IE.