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Posts Tagged ‘ Internet Explorer ’

Internet Explorer Down, But Primed for Rebound

By Fei on January 4, 2012

By Tony Bradley

January 4, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO – To quote LL Cool J, “Don’t call it a comeback.” Yes, Internet Explorer has been consistently shedding market share to rival browsers — primarily Google Chrome — but that is part of a calculated risk by Microsoft, and 2012 could be the year the tide turns.

According to stats from Net Applications, Internet Explorer lost nearly seven percentage points of market share in 2011, finishing the year precariously close to falling below 50 percent in the near future. However, during that same time frame, Internet Explorer 9 jumped nearly 11 percentage points, an important trend for Microsoft.
When you look at the big picture, Internet Explorer definitely lost market share in 2011, Firefox was down, but relatively steady, and Chrome jumped by just under eight percentage points to finish 2011 at 19.11 percent. Essentially, Chrome ate up the market share that was lost by Internet Explorer and Firefox.
That is obviously good news for Chrome, and that trend may even continue for a while. But, if you look at the underlying browser versions, and the driving force behind the migration from Internet Explorer to Chrome, the trend will likely reverse course as Windows 7 continues to supplant Windows XP.

Microsoft made a decision to draw a line in the sand, and make its current flagship browser compatible only with the more current versions of the Windows desktop operating system — Windows Vista, and Windows 7. At the same time, Microsoft has engaged in an aggressive campaign to kill the archaic Internet Explorer 6.

When you combine these two points, you have a scenario where many users who rely on IE6 are taking the hint to abandon the legacy browser, but don’t have the option of switching to Internet Explorer 9 because they are still using Windows XP. Granted, they can switch to Internet Explorer 8 — which would be preferable to Microsoft — but, many figure they may as well get the latest version of something if they’re going to bother switching at all, and that narrows the options to the current version of Firefox or Chrome.
But, Windows 7 continues to climb — and with it Internet Explorer 9. It was a bit of a gamble for Microsoft to bet on the future by making IE9 incompatible with Windows XP, but based on the fact that IE9 gained four more percentage points than Internet Explorer as a whole lost, it seems the gamble is working.
According to Microsoft’s Roger Capriotti, IE9 is doing phenomenal when viewed through a Windows 7 lens. It has passed both Chrome and Firefox on Windows 7, and trails only Internet Explorer 8. It is on track to pass IE8, and when Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10 hit the street, that trend will continue.
As Windows 7 steals share from Windows XP, IE9 will continue to gain market share, and it will take Internet Explorer as a whole with it — reversing the downward slide and rebounding IE market share in 2012.

How to remove troublesome Internet Explorer add-ons

By Fei on April 4, 2011

By Chris Byers
April 4, 2011

LONDON – QUESTION My Windows XP PC is experiencing problems with Internet Explorer 8.0 add-ons. Microsoft‘s Mats Run program shows that the browser is running 36 add-ons. I don’t recognise most of these items and would like to remove them, but they aren’t listed in Manage add-ons. Can you help? Mervyn Fletcher

HELPROOM ASNWER The Mats Run program is a Microsoft automated troubleshooting tool. It shows what it thinks are add-ons to Internet Explorer, but some are idle components of other installed software. Examples include BitDefender and PDF Creator.

Many add-ons in the list you attached to your query are browser toolbars, not add-ons. These can be easily disabled: right-click Internet Explorer’s toolbar and deselect any you don’t use. In some cases, you’ll need to look in Manage add-ons or Add/Remove Programs to disable them.

Finally, run a full antivirus and spyware scan to ensure that none of the entries detected by Microsoft is malicious.

Fixes for YouTube, Craigslist, and Internet Explorer Hassles

By Fei on July 28, 2010

By Rick Broida
July 28, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – In response to a recent Hassle-Free PC about YouTube, a reader wrote me to ask about YouTube buffering. Specifically, he was wondering why YouTube sometimes starts and stops playback rather than buffering the entire video (or most of it, anyway) and then playing it.

Good question! YouTube? What do you have to say for yourself?

Nothing. I see. Well, the fact is that YouTube isn’t the only video site that does a mediocre job of buffering. Even if there’s network congestion or a slow connection, most video sites start playback immediately, which can result in those annoying pauses.

The solution? A free utility called SpeedBit Video Accelerator, which is expressly designed to make streaming video play without buffering interruptions.

SpeedBit relies on something called multi-connection technology to establish faster video downloads on sites ranging from AOL to Yahoo, with more than 160 others in between. (Alas, Hulu and Netflix aren’t among them–though I think those two are much better at buffering.)

The free version works this magic on “normal” and “HQ” videos (those streaming at up to 200 kbps). If you want the same acceleration for “HD” videos (200Kbps and higher), you’ll need to shell out $20–per year–for the Premium version.

That strikes me as a little steep, but hopefully the free version will get the job done. In my tests, SpeedBit worked as advertised, particularly when my connection was congested with other things like file downloads and VoIP phone calls.

I love Craigslist, but does the service have to be so user-unfriendly? I mean, would it kill Craig (or whoever’s in charge these days) to offer some kind of image preview in the listings? As it stands, you have to click through every single item to see whatever photos lie beneath.

To paraphrase a popular slogan, there’s a Firefox add-on for that. CLIP (aka CraigsList Image Prefetcher) adds thumbnail image previews to all Craigslist listings and search results. Even better, CLIP adds previews of the listings themselves. Just mouse over the little arrow to the right of any item and the underlying ad text appears in a pop-up box. That should save you a lot of unnecessary clicking.

While you’re at it, be sure to check out CL Genie, a free service that sends you an e-mail whenever a new Craigslist listing matches your search term(s).

Solve Internet Explorer 8 Crashes

A reader wrote me about a problem he’s having a problem with Internet Explorer 8:

“Whenever I try to access mail.yahoo.com, the page shows up and immediately IE 8 crashes. It happens with most [other] Web sites, too.”

Browser crashes can be tough to troubleshoot–especially when you don’t provide information about your PC, operating system, and so on. (ahem). That’s something everyone should remember when asking for help with system problems: the more details you can provide, the better.

You did mention that these crashes don’t happen in Firefox, meaning you already know the smart short-term workaround for any browser problem: try another browser.

Anyway, you’ve got two likely culprits here: a corrupted add-on or a bad Flash plug-in. I suspect the latter, so let’s start with that.

You’ll need to uninstall the Flash Player plug-in and its ActiveX component, which you can do with a small utility from Adobe. Reboot after you’ve run the utility.

Next, close Internet Explorer and reset it to its default settings (which will also remove any problematic add-ons). Now, click Start, type Internet Options, and then press Enter. Click the Advanced tab, then click the Reset button at the bottom of the window. (o not select the box marked “Delete personal settings.” Click Reset to complete the process. (Note: This process works for Vista and Windows 7.)

Free Explorer App, Firefox Toolbar, Touchpad Tamer

By Fei on March 4, 2010

By Rick Broida
March 4, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – Not long ago I extolled the virtues of using side-by-side Windows Explorer windows to manage files and folders.

I still think that’s a great way to go, but it does require you to manually open two instances of Explorer, then drag one to each side of the screen (or use keyboard shortcuts for faster Aero Snap snapping).

Another option: Windows Double Explorer, a tiny, free utility that provides two Explorer windows–each with a little more oomph than you get from Windows Explorer. (I promise that sentence makes sense. Go back and read it again.)
True to its name, Double Explorer employs a dual-pane interface, which you can view stacked or side by side. Within each pane you can create multiple tabs representing different directories on your hard drive. And you can drag any folders to the Favorites toolbar for easy access to them down the road.

Novice users will find there’s a bit of a learning curve here, as not all the file/folder-management options will make immediate sense. But for seasoned users (and those willing to learn), WDE is definitely worth a look. It’s a compact, installation-free bit of handyware that reminds me of the classic Total Commander.

One important note: Windows Double Explorer works in Windows 7 only. If you have an older version of the OS, the aforementioned Total Commander is a good bet.

Add Extra Rows to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar

Everyone has their preferred method for keeping their favorite sites close at hand. Me, I take advantage of Firefox’s bookmarks toolbar, which provides one-click, at-a-glance access to around 20 favorites.
Just one problem: Any favorites that won’t fit the width of my screen get dumped into a pull-down menu that appears at the far end of the toolbar–rendering them much less easily accessible.

Enter Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, a head-smackingly obvious Firefox extension that lets you add extra rows to the bookmarks toolbar–thus putting more of your favorites close at hand.
You can add as many extra rows as you like, but I was happy enough with just a second one. (More than three and things start to look awfully cluttered.)

What’s more, you can scroll through your remaining bookmarks, instead of having to drill into that pull-down menu (which, in case you’re wondering, no longer appears when MBT is active).

Bottom line: If you rely on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar might just be your new favorite Firefox extension. It’s definitely one of mine.

Disable Your Laptop’s Touchpad While You Type

Recently two of my relatives complained of the same maddening problem: They’d be typing along on their laptops when suddenly the cursor would jump, resulting in garbled text or even an unwanted mouse-click.

This is usually the result of your thumb or palm accidentally grazing the touchpad. Fortunately, there are ways to combat this problem, usually by tweaking the Windows mouse/touchpad settings.

If those options aren’t available on your system or you’re still not getting the results you want, try TouchFreeze. This free utility serves one simple purpose: to disable your laptop’s touchpad while you type. Actually, it disables touchpad tapping, which is what causes the aforementioned problems. (It doesn’t matter if your cursor moves while you’re typing, as long as that movement isn’t followed by a tap–the touchpad equivalent of clicking a mouse.)

I tested the utility on two laptops, one running Windows XP, the other, Vista. On both systems it worked as advertised: No amount of tapping while typing would actually register a tap. If you’ve been tearing your hair out due to flaky laptop behavior, this handy freebie may just solve the problem.

Microsoft Promises Early Patch for IE Zero-Day

By Fei on January 21, 2010

By Tony Bradley
January 21, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft announced that it will release an out-of-band patch–meaning a patch that breaks the standard Patch Tuesday release cycle–to address the Internet Explorer flaw at the heart of the attacks in China against Google and other targets. The announcement was short on details, but Microsoft promised to provide more information on Wednesday.

George Stathakopoulos, general manager of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), stated “We continue to see limited and targeted attacks against Internet Explorer 6 and encourage customers to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. We also recommend customers consider deploying the workarounds and mitigations provided in Security Advisory 979352 until the security update is ready for broad distribution.”

Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, commented on the unusual step of breaking the Patch Tuesday release cycle. “Given the never-ending lack of attention on the Microsoft IE bug, it was inevitable that [Microsoft] would release a patch on or before their regularly scheduled February release.”

It is certainly true that there has been no shortage of media attention devoted to the targeted attacks in China, and the revelation that a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer was apparently a prime attack vector. Germany and France have even added their two cents worth by recommending that everyone abandon IE–at least until a patch is available for the flaw.

The fact that the exploit code for the Internet Explorer vulnerability is now publicly available in-the-wild adds fuel to the fire. Storms points out that in the absence of the international attention on the attacks in China, this flaw probably wouldn’t be updated out-of-band. “If the public vulnerability had not been tied to the Google breach announced last week, the bug would have been worrisome, but not nearly as epically perceived by many.”

Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing for IOActive, offered his own cautious insight, “We know there is an exploit in the field that is causing some amount of damage using this exploit as its entry point, but this entire situation is defined more by what we don’t know than what we do.”
Kaminsky is alluding to the veiled and sparse information trickling out about the attacks. The Internet Explorer vulnerability has been confirmed as an attack vector, but there are hints and implications that there are others as well. Google has been identified as a target, along with as many as 30 other organizations–most of which haven’t been identified.

The knee-jerk response to lay the blame at Microsoft’s feet and scapegoat the Internet Explorer Web browser misses the point and ignores the larger issue that, not only was this a sophisticated and targeted attack, but that a foreign government is accused of perpetrating the attacks and the United States State Department is backing those claims.

An attacker with dedication and resources can find a way to compromise just about any Web browser or operating system. The impact of precision spearphishing attacks such as this, which leverage zero-day vulnerabilities to infiltrate systems and allow the attackers to extract information, is a much more serious security issue than whether or not Internet Explorer gets patched before February 9 (the next regularly-scheduled Patch Tuesday).

nCircle’s Storms concurs “While the attacks were successful against many high profile companies, they are still of a limited and highly-targeted nature. For the mass majority of users, careful browsing practices coupled with up to date antivirus will provide significant risk mitigation.”

Happy birthday Firefox! Firefox turns 5

By Jon on November 9, 2009

By Brennon Slattery
November 10, 2009

On November 9, 2004, Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 debuted and quickly became a serious contender in the ongoing browser wars. At the time, Microsoft‘s Internet Explorer dominated the market with a 99% market share. Five years later, Internet Explorer still reigns at 65%, but Firefox comes in second with an impressive 23%.

The battle is far from over, as the field is bloating with more competition. “With additional entrants, most notably Google and Apple, joining the fray there’s a massive amount of competition in the browser market that is fueling constant innovation and envelope pushing, from speed and features to the development of the mobile browser,” Mozilla wrote in a statement.

Firefox’s philosophy is that the Internet is a public resource and should be as accessible and open as possible. Mozilla spreads the word with wide-open arms to developers, who have beefed up the browser’s capabilities with more than 7000 add-ons.

Firefox currently has 330 million users worldwide, and celebrated its 1 billionth download in July.

Mozilla is making headway in releasing the latest iteration of its browser, Firefox 4.0. In preparation for 4.0′s late 2010 release, Mozilla released the Firefox beta 3.6 last week, bringing with it loads of new features that serve as a hint of what’s to come. Interface mock-ups for 4.0 are sure to set salivary glands into overdrive as it borrows crisp aesthetic cues from Microsoft’s Vista and promises massive increases in speed.

Keeping up with the world’s current obsession with Internet-ready smartphones, Mozilla is also working on Fennec, a mobile browser.

The celebration doesn’t stop with press releases and birthday candles — Mozilla is launching a worldwide campaign called”Light the World with Firefox” that will blast the Firefox logo into the skies of cities across the globe. Mozilla also released an illustrated YouTube video telling its story over the past five years. Check out the Spread Firefox site for Mozilla’s game plan for the next five years.

There’s a lot in store for the little browser that could, and I’m certain millions of people are closely watching its evolution as history unfolds before our eyes.

The Web browser turns 15: a look back

By Jon on October 9, 2009

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Network World
October 9, 2009

Web Browser Milestones

The Web browser turns 15 on Oct. 13, 2009 – a key milestone in the history of the Internet. That’s when the first commercial Web browser – eventually called Netscape Navigator – was released as beta code. While researchers including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications created Unix browsers between 1991 and 1994, Netscape Navigator made this small piece of desktop software a household name. By allowing average users to view text and images posted on Web sites, Netscape Navigator helped launch the Internet era along with multiple browser wars, government-led lawsuits and many software innovations. Here are 15 highlights in the history of the Web browser.

September 2, 2008

Google Chrome introduces
Google announced the beta release of its open source Chrome browser for Microsoft Windows systems. Google offered a developer’s version that supports Linux and Apple Macintosh systems in June 2009. Now, Google is on Version 3 of Chrome, which aims at being speedier than competitors with a cleaner layout and design. So far, Google has attracted more press than users with Chrome. Currently, Chrome has 3.7% browser market share, according to Janco Associates.

March 19, 2009

Microsoft responds to rivals, enhances IE
Responding to innovations in Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome, Microsoft released Version 8 of Internet Explorer. Microsoft said it was the company’s fastest, most stable and secure Web browser. One innovation is Web slices, which notify users when a favorite site is updated. Another improvement makes it easier for users to refer to multiple tabs. IE also offers InPrivate browsing, which has the nickname “porn mode.” Microsoft was prompted to improve its Web browser by shrinking market share, which is down to 68%, according to Janco Associates.

June 30, 2009

Mozilla ships faster Firefox
Mozilla released the latest version of Firefox, which offers several performance enhancements, particularly for Web developers. Though not the fastest browser, Firefox 3.5 is more competitive against Chrome and Safari in this area. Firefox 3.5 features location-aware browsing so it’s easier for users to find nearby retailers or restaurants. This version also supports private browsing, which was already available in Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer. Mozilla says more than 300 million people around the world use Firefox.

August 13, 2009

Netscape founder discloses browser start-up
Marc Andreessen, leader of the NCSA Mosaic project and founder of Netscape, admits to the New York Times that he is backing a browser start-up called RockMelt . The article caused much speculation in the tech press about what RockMelt will be, with many believing that the new venture will create a browser customized for social networking sites such as Facebook.

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The Web browser turns 15: a look back

By Jon on October 9, 2009

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Network World
October 9, 2009

Web Browser Milestones

January 7, 2003

Apple enters the browser fray with Safari
Apple released a beta version of Safari, which would become its standard Web browser built into the Mac operating system later that year. In June 2007, Apple released a version of Safari for Windows XP and Vista systems. Safari also is the browser used in Apple’s iPhone. In June 2009, Apple released Safari 4 featuring speedier performance, enhanced integration with Windows and an at-a-glance view of a user’s favorite Web sites. More than 11 million copies of Safari 4 were downloaded in the first three days of availability, Apple said. A niche player, Safari has less than 1% market share, Janco Associates says.

February 9, 2004

Firefox released, gains mindshare with techies
The Mozilla Foundation released a beta version of Firefox – dubbed Firebox 0.8 – that would soon catch on as a speedy alternative to Internet Explorer. By 2004, Microsoft had more than 87% of the browser market, according to Janco Associates. But within six months of this release, Firefox was the preferred browser among techies, winning awards at Linuxworld Expo and being dubbed hot by Wired Magazine. Firefox grew in popularity, and today this free, open source browser has 19.2% market share.

December 13, 2007

Opera files antitrust complaints against Microsoft
Opera filed a complaint with the European Commission (headed by Neelie Kroes, shown here), claiming that Microsoft violates antitrust laws by integrating Internet Explorer into the Windows operating system and by failing to follow open Web standards. Microsoft has offered to provide its customers with a menu of available browsers to download rather than installing Internet Explorer by default in Windows 7. The EC says it hopes to settle the case before year’s end.

January 14, 2008

Web browsers top Internet vulnerability list
For the first time, Web browser attacks top the list of the Top 10 Cyber Security Menaces for 2008 compiled by SANS Institute. The infosec research group says malicious code placed on popular, trusted Web sites is exploiting components of Web browsers, such as Flash and QuickTime. These attacks are gaining in sophistication and becoming more common. In December 2008, Microsoft would announce a “ huge increase ” in Internet Explorer attacks, one of several times Microsoft must scramble to patch a browser vulnerability.

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The Web browser turns 15: a look back

By Jon on October 9, 2009

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Network World
October 9, 2009

Web Browser Milestones

January 1, 1997

Opera introduced, targets mobile devices
Based in Norway, Internet Opera Software released its first Web browser for Windows, dubbed Opera 2.1. Opera has been a minor player in the Web browser market since then; it currently has 1.1% of the market, according to Janco Associates. Version 10 was released on Sept. 1, 2009. Opera Software claims 40 million users on Windows, Mac and Linux machines. Its mobile version - Opera Mini - claims 30 million users, including many BlackBerry users.

February 23, 1998

Netscape creates open source Mozilla Project
Netscape created the Mozilla Organization as an open source developer that would provide a free version of its browser. By February 1998, Netscape – which had 28% browser market share – had been vanquished by Microsoft – which had 69% market share – in the first browser war. In July 2003, the Mozilla Organization would morph into the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit. In 2005, the for-profit Mozilla Corp.- was created and would eventually deliver the popular Firefox browser.

May 18, 1998

Feds sure Microsoft over bundled browser
The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust case against Microsoft alleging that Microsoft abused monopoly power by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser into its Windows operating system. Working for DOJ, attorney David Boies (shown here) won the trial, and the verdict was upheld on appeal. DOJ reached a settlement with Microsoft in 2001, requiring Microsoft to share its APIs with other companies. Microsoft is required to meet this obligation until November 2009.

November 24, 1998

AOL buys Netscape
AOL announced plans to buy Netscape for $4.2 billion. The deal was a stock-for-stock transaction that ended up being worth more than $10 billion when it closed in March 1999. The merger required approval by the U.S. Department of Justice on antitrust grounds. AOL was not successful at helping Netscape regain market share for Navigator. In December 2007, AOL announced that it would no longer support Netscape Web browsers.

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The Web browser turns 15: a look back

By Jon on October 9, 2009

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Network World
October 9, 2009

Web Browser Milestones

October 13, 1994

First commercial browser released
Mosaic Communications Corp. – later renamed Netscape Communications Corp. – releases the beta version of its Web browser, called Mosaic Netscape 0.9. It was based on the Mosaic code developed by the NCSA, and Mosaic co-author Marc Andreessen was a co-founder of Netscape. The browser was later renamed Netscape Navigator. Version 1.0 was released on Dec. 15. Navigator was the first commercial Web browser to be wildly successful, rapidly achieving 90% market share before Microsoft entered the fray and took over the market. By 2000, Netscape’s market share would fall under 1%, Janco Associates says.

April 30, 1995

Web traffic dominates Internet
Six months after Netscape released its browser, Web traffic became the leading type of traffic on the Internet. For example, Web traffic accounted for 21% of the traffic on the National Science Foundation’s NSFNET backbone, while the No. 2 usage, File Transfer Protocol, traffic accounted for 14% of the traffic, according to livinginternet.com . This was a sign of the rapid adoption of Navigator, which saw 50 million copies distributed in its first two years, according to BusinessWeek.

August 24, 1995

Microsoft muscles into the browser market
Microsoft released Internet Explorer 1.0 in its Windows 95 Plus! Pack. Internet Explorer was built upon software licensed from Spyglass, an offshoot of NCSA that owned the technology behind the Mosaic browser. Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer into its operating system and provided it free of charge. Microsoft’s approach was smart; two years later Microsoft had replaced Netscape as the leading browser provider, with 49% of the market compared with 46% for Netscape, according to Janco Associates.

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