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TOP STORY — info you need to make Windows work Protect Internet Explorer without SP2 — part one By Paul Thurrott To defend your PC against unwanted pop-ups and other security threats that propagate on the Internet, your best bet is to install a Web browser other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). Brian and I recommend the excellent Mozilla Firefox, which has been the subject of previous columns by both myself and Brian. We'll have a complete review of Firefox in the Windows Secrets Newsletter after the 1.0 Gold version of the new browser is released, which is expected on Nov. 9. But many PC users find themselves chained to IE. Chief among the reasons for this is that certain sites — especially Windows Update and several online banking sites — have been foolishly programmed to work only with IE. If that's your situation, let's see what we can do to better secure IE. In this article, we'll focus on blocking pop-up windows, which are not only irritating but can expose your PC to unwanted downloads. No IE security fixes for non-XP users Microsoft has publicly stated that the new IE security features found in XP Service Pack 2 — such as its Pop-up Blocker and the elimination of "drive-by downloads" — will not be made available to IE users running Windows versions other than XP. This includes users of Windows 2000, 9x, and Me. As partial compensation for the lack of pop-up blocking in IE, Microsoft released some time ago the MSN Toolbar. In addition to a pop-up blocker, however, this toolbar includes several extraneous Microsoft-specific links to such things as MSN Messenger, Hotmail.com, and MSN Search, which aren't wanted by most people. As a result, many Windows users have installed the free Google Toolbar. This utility (for IE 5.0 and higher) offers access to the search functionality of Google, rather than MSN, and sports its own pop-up blocker (for IE 5.5 and higher). While Google's toolbar is fine, Google aficionados may prefer the Alexa Toolbar, a service of Amazon.com. Besides including a Google input box and a pop-up blocker, the Alexa utility also can suggest related links and help you search the Wayback Machine, a huge repository of billions of Web pages as they looked in the past, some as far back as 1996. Getting the most out of IE under XP SP2 If you do happen to run Windows XP, the simplest thing you can do to improve IE's security and block pop-up windows is to install Service Pack 2 (SP2). This massive security update includes a major upgrade to IE. In XP SP2, when you visit a site that attempts to display a pop-up window, IE displays below the Address Bar a small yellow pane, which is called the Information Bar. This bar reports that a pop-up has been blocked and that you can click the yellow pane to see the pop-up or view additional options. When you click the Information Bar, you'll see the following options: |
WINDOWS SECRETS NEWSLETTER (formerly Woody's Windows Watch and Brian's Buzz on Windows)  ISSUE 41 — 2004.11.04 • Top Story: Protect Internet Explorer without SP2 — part one • Microsoft's latest patches • New Bagle worm disables Windows Firewall and antivirus apps • QuickTime and RealPlayer flaws expose PCs to attack • 3 rewriteable DVD drives are rated "best buy" • DVD recorders finally become affordable • New ink jets from fall's crop are rated • Internal and external hard drives shine in tests • Portable Wi-Fi routers emerge to help travelers • Which vendors' wireless router/adapter combos are best? • Nine high-end video cards reviewed, one is deemed a winner • Turning off XP SP2's Windows Firewall may not be easy • Google Desktop Search is beaten by Copernic • Rock out with your favorite video-game characters • Useful Links NEWSLETTER CONTROL PANEL • Windows Secrets home page • How to subscribe • Change your delivery address • Change your preferences • Access past free issues • Access past paid issues • Submit a Windows tip • Get subscription help • How to unsubscribe CIRCULATION: over 145,000 |
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• Temporarily Allow Pop-ups. This option will turn off IE's
pop-up blocker until you re-enable it. • Always Allow Pop-ups from This Site. Places the currently visited site into IE's Allowed sites list. • Settings. Lets you disable the pop-up blocker, change the behavior of the Information Bar, or access the IE Pop-up Blocker Settings dialog. • Information Bar Help. Displays IE help documents about the Information Bar. Setting your filter to High, Medium, or Low To manage the pop-up blocker, you can also access Tools and then Pop-up Blocker from the IE menu. Here, you'll find a number of menu items similar to those displayed in the Information Bar when IE blocks a pop-up window. You can set the pop-up blocker to one of three "filter levels." The default setting, Medium (block most automatic pop-ups), appeared to work well in our tests. With this setting enabled, all automatically generated pop-up windows are stopped. But you can still click a hyperlink that spawns a pop-up window. Because of this, the understandably paranoid may opt for the High setting, which blocks all pop-ups, including those that appear when you click on a hyperlink. To use a hyperlink that spawns a pop-up window you wish to see, you must hold down the Ctrl key when you click the link. This is similar to many other pop-up blockers' functionality. The Low setting allows pop-ups from any Web sites considered "secure", which are simply those sites that utilize the prefix "https://" in their address instead of the more usual "http://". We don't recommend using this setting. To send us more information about protecting yourself against IE, or to send us a tip on any other subject, visit WindowsSecrets.com/contact. You'll receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of your choice if you send us a comment that we print. ^ FORWARDING INSTRUCTIONS — news gains value when it's shared Please share this information with your friends You're encouraged to refer your friends and colleagues to this free newsletter. Because most e-mail programs don't correctly display a formatted message that's been forwarded, simply call people's attention to the permanent Web address of this issue: WindowsSecrets.com/041104. HERE'S A TIP — you'll get a better newsletter if you choose the paid version You're reading the free version of the Windows Secrets Newsletter Subscribers to the paid version receive additional information in each issue. Some of the extras this week are:
Make a contribution to support our research into Windows and you'll immediately be able to read and search through scores of valuable articles. In addition, paid subscribers are entitled to download valuable content that we license for them at least once every calendar quarter. To upgrade, simply make a contribution of any amount that you choose If you do this by November 17, 2004, you'll instantly be sent the full, paid version of today's newsletter. To upgrade to the paid version of Windows Secrets, please visit WindowsSecrets.com/upgrade. Thanks in advance. ^ ELECTRONIC BOOKSHELF — new e-books from the editors 
Spam-Proof Your E-Mail AddressThis 27-page e-book by Brian Livingston gives you step-by-step instructions that can eliminate 97% of the spam that would otherwise clog your e-mail account. You could call it "Livingston's Spam Secrets." The PDF-format e-book is the result of months of experiments and tests we conducted. We now receive little or no spam to the addresses we used as guinea pigs. These tests show that you can actually reduce your volume of spam to practically nothing, not just battle an unstoppable and ever-growing flood. The methods we describe work with Windows, Apple, and Linux and don't require any filters or block lists — but you can use those in addition to the book's techniques, if you wish. More info WACKY WEB WEEK — playing for you the Internet's greatest bits 
Rock out with your favorite video-game charactersEveryone's seen MTV music videos — but the music television channel is now enlisting beings from video games to perform the latest pop songs. The resulting short films are called "video mods." They're made possible by the video-game makers, who've licensed MTV to use their characters, sometimes alongside digitized images of real musicians. Some of the hits that MTV has converted to video-mod format so far are "Everybody's Fool" by Evanescense (photo), "Ride" by the Vines, and "Shut Up" by the Black Eyed Peas. These videos feature characters from BloodRayne 2, Tribes: Vengeance, Leisure Suit Larry, and other games. The most work-safe video, in case you're thinking of watching one of these downloadable videos at the office, is probably "Cmon Cmon" by the Von Bondies. MTV must be suffering from budget cuts, because the costumes on the characters in the other clips don't seem to have very much fabric. The video mods, which appear in a special program on MTV2 every other Saturday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, mark the beginning of a shift toward computer-generated actors that are absolutely indistinguishable from real ones. If so, we'll hopefully get a little more creativity out of the producers soon. The video mod of "Stacey's Mom," sung by Fountains of Wayne but with characters from The Sims 2, is a shot-for-shot duplicate of the live-action music video, which is good for a laugh but hardly seems like an improvement. More info ^ USEFUL LINKS — more stuff that's good to know Why can't Microsoft catch its own bugs? Of the 10 new security holes that were announced by Microsoft on Oct. 12, the discovery of nine of them was credited to outside "security researchers." Why are Microsoft's in-house workers finding only a minority of the Windows bugs that nonemployees are uncovering and reporting?. (By Brian Livingston, Datamation) More info Take a good look at Microsoft's free Photo Story 3 Microsoft released on Oct. 27 what is now arguably the best tool for digital photography enthusiasts. It's Photo Story 3, and it's a free download for Windows XP users. (By Paul Thurrott, SuperSite for Windows) More info Vote and get a free CoffeeCup The election for President of the United States has finally come and gone. One software company encouraged a big voter turnout by giving away copies of its latest product, through Nov. 9, 2004. The company is CoffeeCup Software, and the product is its new CoffeeCup HTML Editor 2005. (By Brian Livingston, Datamation) More info ^ ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION — we're here to serve you The Windows Secrets Newsletter (formerly Woody's Windows Watch and Brian's Buzz on Windows) is published twice a month, except for breaks in August and December. The newsletter is published on the Thursday one week before and one week after Microsoft releases its new Windows patches on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Publisher: The newsletter publisher is WindowsSecrets.com LLC, 300 Queen Anne Ave. N. #456, Seattle, WA 98109 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine). Editor: Brian Livingston is the co-author of Windows 2000 Secrets, Windows Me Secrets, and eight other books. Associate Editor: Paul Thurrott is the author of Windows XP Home Networking and Great Digital Media with Windows XP and the author or co-author of several other books. Research Director: Vickie Stevens. Program Director: Ian Maddox. Trademarks: "Windows" is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The "Windows Secrets" series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. "The Windows Secrets Newsletter," "WindowsSecrets.com," "WinFind," "Windows Gizmos," "Index of Reviews," and "Wacky Web Week" are trademarks and service marks of WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. How to subscribe: Anyone may subscribe to this newsletter by visiting WindowsSecrets.com/signup. How to change your delivery address: To change your delivery address, log in at WindowsSecrets.com/prefs/?a=cP. How to change your other preferences: To change from HTML format to a plain-text notification and to set other preferences, log in at WindowsSecrets.com/prefs. How to get subscription help by e-mail (fastest method): Visit WindowsSecrets.com/contact. Subscription help by facsimile: 206-282-6312 (fax). Emergency subscription help by phone: 206-282-2536 (24 hours). How to unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from the Windows Secrets Newsletter, • Use this Unsubscribe link; or • Visit WindowsSecrets.com/unsubscribe. All subscribers are covered by our Ironclad Privacy Guarantee: (1) We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever; (2) We will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides newsletter updates; and (3) All unsubscribe requests are always honored immediately, period. Privacy policy Copyright © 2004 by WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All rights reserved. ^ |