Transcript: Internet Explorer, September 9, 2004
Published: August 12, 2004
Chat Date: September 9, 2004
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Introduction
Andy Q (Moderator):
Welcome to today’s chat. Our topic is Internet Explorer. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
Andy Q (Moderator):
We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
My name is Dave Massy and I work on the Program Management team for Internet Explorer. I'm pleased to be here and looking forward to hearing your comments and questions.
Jed R [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Jed Rose and I work with our Internet Explorer communities. I am also involved with the MVP Program for Windows.
Bruce_MSFT (Expert):
Hi, I'm Bruce Morgan, I am one of the development managers for IE - my teams work on the user interface code for IE
Start of Chat
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I'm looking for suggestions on combatting the install of spyware without relying on a 3rd party app - example, I've set my Internet security zone to High and add sites to my Trusted zone as needed - things like that
A: Hi Al, With Windows XP SP2 that we released a couple of months ago now we have made it much more difficult to inadvertently install software which we believe is a major step forward here. There is also the addition of the addon manager so you can see which addons are installed for IE and disable them if needed. However if you do have something really nasty installed we'd recommend that you use a 3rd party tool such as adaware.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Is there a updated internet explorer coming out soon
A: Hi Bill, We're working on Internet Explorer at the moment at this stage it is too early to talk about features or schedule but we are excited at the prospect of improving the overall browsing experience.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: tis true - I hate spyware with a passion - it's always slipping past me
A: Yes. Spyware is a serious issue these days. It's not specific to Internet Explorer either. Once you have something nasty installed on your machine it can do all sorts of damage, sometimes obvious and sometimes not. we advise everyone to use caution when downloading and installing any software and make sure that you trust the publisher and source of the software before you download it.
Bruce_MSFT (Expert):
I'm sorry, but we keep getting a lot of product support or other questions that aren't really on topic
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: When I go to a website that is in a mixed security zone - do I have to worry that a website might get lower security levels than what I set?
A: Hi Al, A website as such cannot be a mixed security zone. A site that is in one domain cannot talk to a site in another domain and we have additional blocks to ensure that a site cannot elevate privelages and have rights of a different zone.
Bruce_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I use group policy to set the Internet Zone to High security but I had to leave "Security zones: Do not allow users to change policies" = Not Configured so users could add sites into the Trusted - can they now lower the Internet zone security?
A: According to http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/gp/790.asp, If you enable this policy, the Custom Level button and the security-level slider on the Security tab in the Internet Options dialog box are disabled.
If you disable this policy or do not configure it, users can change the settings for security zones.
This policy prevents users from changing security zone settings established by the administrator.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: If I set ICA to block only certain (specified) sites, and tell it to allow unrated, etc, no matter how careful I am about the settings, ICA will still block random sites it should ignore. Is there any improvement planned for ICA?
A: Hi minimage, We are looking at this functionality. At the moment the area of rating content is a tricky one as few sites rate their content. In fact it tends to be the adult sites that do rate their content while others are much less likely to do so. We are thinking about this for the future and how to best ensure that children might not browse to innapropriate content.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Does Mozilla firefox have better security than Internet Explorer and is it a good idea to use?
A: Hi Nicholas, I can't really comment on Firefox security however I can say that on Internet Explorer we are committed to security, the results of which can be seen with Windows XP SP2. If you have automatic updates enabled you can be sure that you are using one of the most secure browsers available.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: What kind of Internet Explorer Updates and improvements will be implemented in longhorn?
A: Hi, We can't talk in detail about future features yet but we are looking at ways to improve the browsing experience so that you can be more productive when using the internet. Are their particular features you would like to see?
Bruce_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I have a TabletPC. Although I love my device, it has limited screen real estate. For me, tabbed browsing is mandatory. I have other options...but none that work with SharePoint or well with Exchange OWA. Will we see tabbing with IE one day?
A: Tabbed browsing is probably the most commonly requested UI feature - we've definitely heard the call to implement it in IE.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Every 2nd link that I click on that would open a new browser automatically makes IE stop responding. How can I fix this?
A: Hi bunker, It sounds like you may have some spyware installed that is affecting your browser experience.http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/default.mspx has great resources for helo
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Every 2nd link that I click on that would open a new browser automatically makes IE stop responding. How can I fix this?
A: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/default.mspx has great resources for helping with spyware.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Yes I would like to see tabbed browsing just like firefox, plugin management (small control panel), enhanced skins without third party software, less resource intensive
A: Thanks. We definitely hear this feedback. With Windows XP SP2 there is already the addition of an addon manager. We know we have work to do in some of these other areas and are excited at the prospect of improving the user exerience.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: (Previous question clarification) Group Policy sets Internet Zone to High - but users can still security levels - BUT if you lower the settings it still acts as if in High - I can even Enable downloads - but it still won't allow - is this proper behavior?
A: Hi Al, From the scenario you describe it sounds like group policy is overiding the settings. This may well be expected behavior depending on the infrastructure you have. It may be best to go through support where you can discuss your exact configuration and infrastructure.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I have a problem with MSN gaming zone since I have applied SP2. When I try to play a game online the active-x install hangs. First I get the security warning, accept it to install activex then it refreshes and nothing, I've set IE optns to prompt for a-x
A: Hi Jim, I'm not aware of any issues the gaming zone. I'd suggest setting your security to the defaults and ensuring you have the latest controls that the gaming zone uses installed.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: have a question, I wasn't able to uses window update for last 2 years, now I can. but I see alot of critical update, and the descriptions look similiar. Should I d/l all of them??? What happen it uses the earlier driver than the latest one??
A: We strongly recommend you install all critical updates. These are improtant to ensure you are secure when conected to the internet.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Why was IE looking for the Journal Viewer when a pdf file was loaded from a web page? It happened a lot on our newly-installed Win2K PCs, until my supervisor added Journal Viewer to the images.
A: Sorry it's difficult to answer without reproducing it. It may have soemthing to do with Adobe Acrobat and the PDF files being loaded.
Bruce_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Our FQDN "location.company.com" falls into the Internet Zone (which has High security) and I don't know why it isn't falling into the Intranet Zone - if I navigate using the NetBIOS name - it properly falls into Intranet zone - any ideas?
A: I think this KB article will help http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303650/EN-US/ "Intranet site is identified as an Internet site when you use an FQDN or an IP address" "This behavior may occur if an FQDN or IP address contains periods. If an FQDN or IP address contains a period, Internet Explorer identifies the Web site or share as in the Internet zone." The KB goes on to talk about how to workaround this.
Andy Q (Moderator):
We are going to have to wrap up this chat in about 5 min. We’re working on the final answers for today. Thank you for participating.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Q: MSFT won't allow Firefox to access certain cites WUV5 or WUV4 would be examples. But why is it that if you want to use html colors and fonts and make something bold or underlined in web based email like Hotmail or Yahoo, but Firefox won't in html email?
A: I think that's a question probably best asked of the team that develops Firefox. There are many sites that make use of advanced Internet Explorer functionality that is not available on other browsers so the experience is reduced if you are not using IE. Specifically the Windows Update sites need to use ActiveX controls to help update the Operating System.
Dave_MSFT (Expert):
Thanks for the chat today. Chat again next month.
For further information on this topic please visit the following:
Newsgroups: Windows XP General Discussion
Transcripts: Read the archive of past Windows XP chats.
