Is an IED or InternetExploder more Dangerous? at Robert Pogson

There has been a lot in the news about IEDs used by irregular forces in Afghanistan but InternetExploder affects more of us personally if not lethally. After years of reporting serious vulnerabilities in IE, it is still no more secure. The latest revelation will be published at BlackHat this year. It’s the same old thing. By exploiting a chain of vulnerabilities in IE and its OS, the webmaster can see everything on your PC…

I have already advised users of my system to stop using IE. I guess now it is time to install FF everywhere and time to remove IE. Those who have switched do not seem to mind. It’s just more work and time wasted eliminating it.

The nightmare of IE never seems to end. When Bill decided to integrate IE into Lose ’95 in order to lock out NetScape, he set in motion no end of feature bloat that violated all notions of security. There is a way to do many things with a browser. One uses standard interfaces that, if compromised, can be fixed in a localized manner. Integrating everything with everything means nothing can be changed without unintended consequences like opening more holes. The K.I.S.S principle works in IT.

Update: Rather than remove it, I disabled user access. Users were still able to access it. Another re-re-reboot fixed that. Now the blue “e” is gone. Now to change the images and push.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.