The update for Internet Explorer will be provided through Windows Updates or from the usual Microsoft sites where updates can be downloaded manually. The reason for the out of band update is Microsoft’s monitoring of the vulnerability which seemed to have uncovered an increased exploitation of the security vulnerability.

The update for Internet Explorer is cumulative as it contains nine additional vulnerability fixes that all were supposed to be released on Microsoft’s monthly patch Tuesday on April 13.

The main impact of the vulnerability is remote code execution:

The vulnerability exists due to an invalid pointer reference being used within Internet Explorer. It is possible under certain conditions for the invalid pointer to be accessed after an object is deleted. In a specially-crafted attack, in attempting to access a freed object, Internet Explorer can be caused to allow remote code execution.

Admins and users who still run systems with Internet Explorer 6 or 7 are encouraged to update their systems as soon as the update is released by Microsoft to protect the system from being successfully compromised.

The vulnerability only affected Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7; Anyone updating their web browser to the latest official version of Internet Explorer would protect the computer system from the security vulnerability.

But not everyone was able to update. Especially users in corporate environments have still to cope with outdated versions of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft now has released a so called Fix It solution to patch the vulnerability so that it cannot be exploited anymore. A Fix It solution is basically a small program that can be executed right from the web browser to fix problems on the operating system.

Actually, there are two fix it solutions for the same vulnerability and it is enough to use one of them to protect the PC from the Internet Explorer vulnerability.

• Fix it solution for peer factory in iepeers.dll We have created an application compatibility database that will disable peer factory in the iepeers.dll binary for supported versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
  To install this application compatibility database, click the Fix it button in the “Fix it solution for peer factory in iepeers.dll” section.
• Fix it solution for Data Execution Prevention We have created an application compatibility database that will enable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) for all versions of Internet Explorer that support DEP. You do not need this database if you are using Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or on Windows Vista SP1 or later versions. This is because Internet Explorer 8 opts-in to DEP by default on these platforms.
  To install this application compatibility database, click the Fix it button in the “Fix it solution for Data Execution Prevention” section

The second Fix-It patch requires a computer system that supports DEP which means that it works on every Microsoft operating system from Windows XP on which obviously excludes Windows 2000. The processor also needs to support Hardware-enforced DEP

Both Fix It solutions can be executed or downloaded form this Microsoft Knowledgebase article.

The impact of the vulnerability is a remote code execution that can be triggered by an invalid pointer reference that can be the cause for the remote code execution.

Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks. It is therefor recommended to update Internet Explorer to the latest version or ensure that Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is enabled.

Possible attack vectors are manipulated websites that are used to exploit the security vulnerability either directly or by third party code that is being displayed on the website or by attacking the email clients Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail with HTML emails that exploit the vulnerability.

Interested users can visit the security advisory issued by Microsoft to get additional information about the security vulnerability.

Another possibility to protect the computer from the vulnerability would be to switch at least temporary to another Internet browser although this might not always be possible.

The vulnerability has also been used in an attack earlier this month on several popular US companies that included Google and Adobe. The patch does not seem to have been made available via Windows Update yet. This is likely to happen in the next couple of hours.

Windows users are encouraged to download the patch from the appropriate support pages to close the vulnerability in their computer system.

• Internet Explorer 8 (Windows XP 64-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit
• Internet Explorer 7 (Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit
• Cumulative Security Updates for Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

Users with Internet Explorer 6, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 can find the whole list of patches at Bink.nu. Internet Explorer 6 and IE 7 users should also consider updating their web browser to Internet Explorer 8 if possible.

The Fix IE Utility has been designed fix problems that user might encounter when running Internet Explorer. This includes startup problems and especially problems related to dll or ocx files that are needed to run Internet Explorer and its functions.

The software program will automatically register 89 different dll and ocx files that are required to run Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8. This tool could be helpful if dll or ocx errors are displayed during Internet Explorer start or while working in the web browser.

All instances of Internet Explorer need to be closed before executing the command to run the repair of Internet Explorer. Everything else should be pretty self-explanatory. The portable program will display a simple two button interface upon startup. A click on the Run Utility button will register the dll and ocx files.

Microsoft’s solution to repair Internet Explorer 7 or 8 is to download (IE7 or IE8) the web browser again.

The Fix IE Utility has been designed for The Windows Club from where it can be downloaded.

There are various options to test a website in different versions of Internet Explorer. Some, like IETester, make it possible to install multiple versions of Internet Explorer on the same computer system. Others, like Browsershots, are online tools that can test a website in various web browsers as well.

A third possibility is now offered by Microsoft directly in the form of virtual PC images. Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 are provided as virtual PC images. It is possible to download a virtual PC image for each web browser running under Windows XP or Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 images running under Windows Vista.

The Windows XP images have a size of around 600 Megabytes each while the Windows Vista images triple that size. The only limitation is an expiration date for the virtual PC images. The Windows XP images will expire in January 2010 while the Vista images will expire 120 days after their first execution. These expiration dates make the virtual PC images a less than favorable solution but its probably better than not testing the various editions of Internet Explorer at all.

Users who are interested in the virtual PC images can download them directly from the Microsoft website.

The security update fixes the following two vulnerabilities: Uninitialized Memory Corruption Vulnerability and CSS Memory Corruption Vulnerability. Since it is a cumulative update it does apply all previous security updates for Internet Explorer on the computer system.

The easiest way to update affected systems is to use Microsoft Update which will download and apply the security updates automatically. The other possibility is to download the patch from Microsoft Download and apply it manually.

Microsoft has released three additional security bulletins:

• Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959239)
• Vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959420)
• Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution (957634)

Many users fail to notice this and wonder why the Runonce page instead of their homepage is always showing up when they start Microsoft Internet Explorer. The reason for this is simply. Internet Explorer keeps a record if the form on the runonce page has been filled by the user. If that is not the case it will be displayed again which can be very annoying especially if you do not realize that you have to fill the form.

The Runonce page will also be displayed after resetting Internet Explorer settings. Some users encountered an even bigger problem as the Runonce page was not displayed correctly on their systems. This made it impossible to fill out the form so that the page would not be displayed the next time they would start Internet Explorer.

There are various options how the Runonce page can be disabled. The easiest for most users is to run the software IE7 Runonce Remover which is a small application that can remove the Runonce page.

Users who prefer the manual way can change two Registry settings for the same effect. To do that they would press [Windows R], type [regedit] and hit [enter].

Locate the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and change the values of the Registry keys RunOnceHasShown and RunOnceComplete to 1.

Not included are the browsing history or session cookies which is a bit unfortunate as it could mean to log into several of the websites again if they require that. The extension becomes available in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer after installation where the sessions can be stored or loaded.

The Internet Explorer sessions are stored in the program directory by default. The extension provides the option to store them at the Amazon S3 Service instead which costs $0.150 per GB but has the advantage that the sessions are available online and can therefor be loaded from any computer with Internet connection.

Another option would be to send the session per email or upload it manually to the Internet to access it from a second computer.

One interesting aspect of the session manager for Internet Explorer is the ability to manage the stored urls of each session. Single urls can be loaded in the browser. It is also possible to delete urls from the session.

IE Sessions supports Internet Explorer 6 or on Windows XP or Windows 2000. Windows Vista users should read the information posted on the website about Vista compatibility first before they install the extension.

The problem begins when the webmaster realizes that Microsoft has made it virtually impossible to install and use different versions of Internet Explorer on the same computer system. Unlike Firefox or Opera where it is possible to install different versions separately that option has been neglected in Internet Explorer.

A first step in the right direction was the IETester tool which emulated various Internet Explorer versions in one interface making it possible to view websites with different Internet Explorer versions.

The next step however is the Internet Explorer Collection. The collection comes with several Internet Explorer versions from Internet Explorer 1 to Internet Explorer 8 in one installation package. It does include the highly popular Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7.

• Internet Explorer 1.0 (4.40.308)
• Internet Explorer 1.5 (0.1.0.10)
• Internet Explorer 2.01 (2.01.046)
• Internet Explorer 3.0 (3.0.1152)
• Internet Explorer 3.01 (3.01.2723)
• Internet Explorer 3.03 (3.03.2925)
• Internet Explorer 4.01 (4.72.3110.0)
• Internet Explorer 5.01 (5.00.3314.2100)
• Internet Explorer 5.5 (5.51.4807.2300)
• Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2800.1106)
• Internet Explorer 6.0 (6.00.2900.2180)
• Internet Explorer 7.0 (7.00.5730.13)
• Internet Explorer 8.0 (8.00.6001.18702)

The best part is that you can pick the Internet Explorer versions that you want and install them on your system separately which in turn means that it is possible to test a website in each version of Internet Explorer independently.

After downloading Internet Explorer Collection the user is presented with several check boxes during installation which when selected install the specific version of Internet Explorer.

It does not make much sense to install the early versions, at least when website testing is the main consideration for installing the different versions. It could be nice for a nostalgic trip however or just for fun to see how fast (or not) those old versions were.

Each version of Internet Explorer that has been installed on the system because accessible through the Windows Start Menu. A click on the Internet Explorer icon will launch that version, it is even possible to launch and run several versions of Internet Explorer simultaneously.

The developer of Internet Explorer Collection is shy on words because there is virtually no information on his website about the technique that he uses to run the Internet Explorer versions on the same computer system.

The phishing filter of Internet Explorer 7 is therefor a layer of defense against Internet crime and should not be deactivated. Users can on the other hand experience serious computer slowdowns when the phishing filter is checking the current website.

This is usually caused by websites who make use of many frames but can also happen if the user was browsing many frames before.

Microsoft has provided security updates for Internet Explorer 7 that fix this issue. The security patch can be downloaded at the official Knowledgebase article or Windows Updates.

I would also like to mention that this fix has been in existence for almost a year and that it is important to install security updates for Internet Explorer and Windows regularly.

Internet Explorer 7 Standalone (IE7 Standalone) comes in handy if you are still running Internet Explorer 6 on your system but want to install Internet Explorer 7 as well to be able to use both browsers on your system. It’s basically a script that downloads Internet Explorer 7 directly from Microsoft and installs it as a standalone application on your computer. This means that it does not mess with Internet Explorer 6 in any way and that it is possible to load either one of them.

This method does have some shortcomings though. Some features that require Registry keys that are still occupied by Internet Explorer 6 are broken and will not work in Internet Explorer 7 standalone. The developer is listing several features that seem to be broken although most do not explain the aspect that is not working.

This is a great way to run both Internet Explorer 6 and 7 on the same system. A quick test did not reveal any difficulties so far.

I was actually pretty sure that the second option was more or less already implemented in Firefox, the first however seems to be quite useful. It’s possible for instance to add stock charts or a price of an item in a browser bar to have it always in sight.

Webslices are emulated by the Firefox add-on Webchunks while the Activities are still called Microsoft Activities. Both are said to work with the latest version of Firefox 2 and even the beta of Firefox 3.

Not a lot of websites are offering webslices at the moment. The Microsoft website lists four: Facebook, Ebay, Stumbleupon and MSN. The same can be said for activites, about ten are available on the Microsoft website.

Webchunks:

Microsoft Activities:

Will you install one or both of the extensions ? Via Mozilla Links

The Find as you type add-on is available for Internet Explorer 7 only. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and can be downloaded in four different languages which are German, English, Italian and Dutch. Make sure Internet Explorer is closed during installation.

Once installed you can access the new function by pressing CTRL + f as usual. Instead of opening a search box a small search bar will open instead waiting for input. The add-on will start finding matching strings once the first character has been entered in the search bar.

I was not able to find some sort of configuration for the add-on though. As you all know it is possible to use the find as you type feature in Firefox without having to press CTRL + f before. Would be nice if this could be added to this add-on for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 as well.

You can take a look for yourself if you load runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx in Internet Explorer 7. But it’s only once, not a big deal Martin ? That’s right for most users. Some however have experienced that the runonce script is running all the time when they start Internet Explorer 7 which reminds me just a little bit of the bug that made users activate their Windows after every system start.

Users who experience the runonce configuration all the time can either change the browser or edit the Registry and change the value of it manually so that Windows believes it already has shown the message to you.

Press Windows R, type regedit and hit enter. Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and change the value of the Registry string RunOnceHasShown to 1.

Setting this key to 1 means that runonce has already shown on your system and that it will not be shown again, hopefully. Restart Internet Explorer 7 to test if this has worked.

The Online Tech Tips blog has two more ways to get rid of the Runonce setup screen, one is a freeware called Runonce Remover, the other is by editing the Group Policies.

Their reasoning is that they removed the WGA validation to ‘protect the entire Windows ecosystem’. We all know that Microsoft started to integrate Internet Explorer heavily into the system to dominate the thriving Netscape browser which turned out to be a successful marketing decision.

I personally think it is about market share and the hopes that Internet Explorer 7 is able to get most of the Internet Explorer 6 users to upgrade to it.

Microsoft enabled the Toolbar in Internet Explorer 7 by default which is in my opinion a good move. Many users got confused by the new looks of the browser.

Read More

IE Blog
via PC Doctor

I was a bit puzzled because I never heard about something like that before. After searching for several minutes I found a solution. The antivirus application Antivir is apparently causing the problem and there are several fixes for this issue. The first fix is to download a patch from Microsoft
which apparently fixes the issue.

A second solution would be to download a fix provided by the developers of Antivir which switches the filters in Antivir to avoid the problem that urls are removed in Internet Explorer in the future. I hope I was able to help other users who have the same problems and don’t know what is causing it.

If you are on a fast connection you might not want to use a download manager anymore for the purpose of downloading relative small files from the Internet. A better way would be to boost the number of simultaneous downloads in Internet Explorer 7 from 2 to a higher number. As always the setting is hidden deep inside the registry. To start the registry press Windows + R, type regedit and hit enter.

Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Internet Settings and create the following two DWord (32 bit) keys by right-clicking in the right pane. Name the first MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and set it to a number greater than 2. This is the amount of simultaneous downloads from now on.

Create a second registry entry called MaxConnectionsPerServer and give it the same value that you have selected above. Close everything and restart your computer. I would suggest you test the settings with large enough files to see if this brought the desired effect. If you encounter problems you could reduce the number that you entered in both registry keys.

found: arsgeek

Each category has some subcategories that finally contain the links to the add-ons. Many of the add-ons listed are not free, you should enable the freeware only option if you would like to view only freeware add-ons. As an example, the privacy subcategory of security has 39 entries, if you choose only freeware add-ons the list is reduced to 14.

Microsoft introduced a rating system and comments system for their add-ons website, make sure you read the comments before you install an add-on.

There are of course not that many add-ons available at the moment, the list surely grows with time. I dislike the fact that freeware and commercial products are in that list, would love a similar system to the mozilla system with only freeware add-ons listed.

It is still a nice idea to take a look at the add-ons and install and test some of them.. I stick with firefox nevertheless.