How vulnerable is your OS? XP users click to find out!

[arjan de lumens]

Is it possible to remove Internet Explorer completey and still have an otherwise 100% functioning Windows installation? If it is, then OK, IE is an application, else it just gets silly to say that IE is not a part of Windows.

 

[Frank]

Explorer.exe and iexplore.exe are different programs

Look at the size of both. Iexplore.exe is just a stub that starts explorer.exe. When you're browsing the internet and clicking links, you're using the exact same program as when you're browsing your own computer and starting apps. And Jscript and WSH use the exact same engine as well.

I want a separate sandbox for anything internet related, I don't want it to be closely integrated as an extension of my own computer, and use the same things I use when working locally. That might be convenient, but never safe.

 

[Diplo]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

I disagree

You think IE = Windows and whatever is wrong with one is inherintly a flaw with the other, I think IE is an application and Windows is an OS...

I think the problem is that there really is no clear line anymore between applications, services, libraries and the OS itself in Windows. For instance, is JScript part of the OS? It's used by Windows Explorer, so does that make it a part of the OS? It all depends on how you define "Operating System", which is a topic for discussion in itself

 

[nate240]

With Firefox 1.5, NOD32 caught it, and terminated the threat before anything happened. With IE6.0 NOD32 also caught it, but IE still crashed. This just reinforces my choice to use firefox and NOD32.

 

[MatiasZ]

Computer Terrorism Update

Microsoft has finally released a patch for this security issue. You can also find it directly from here if you're using IE6 and XP SP2.

I have already installed it and it seems to do the job, but still, I've finally changed to Firefox for good (I used both before, with no preference if a little for IE) and I'm not looking back.

 

[Blacklash]

I clicked on the OS selection and nothing happened. Is that how you test it?

I have active X off in my browser and am on Win XP Pro x64. I also have Spyware blaster on my rig with all its protection enabled.