Dealing with Internet Explorer issues

(This item was originally written as a response to a request for help from a friend whose Internet Explorer was intermittently locking up.)

You can kill an unresponsive Internet Explorer (or any program) without having to reboot or shut down the PC. Press and hold the [Ctrl]+[Shift] key combination, then press the [Esc] key. This brings up the Task Manager window. If the Process tab is not open by default, click on it. This will bring up a list of running processes. Go down the list and find iexplore--click on it to highlight it, then click on the End process button at the bottom of the window to kill it. You may have to do this more than once sometimes if there's more than one IE tab or window open.

Someone once said, "The best use for Internet Explorer is to use it to download a better browser." This is true--I recommend either Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as an alternative--but there are also things you should do to fix the problem with IE, as well. Once you install Firefox, you should install the NoScript add-on. There's a lot of malicious scripts out there--it allows you to run scripts on a site-by-site basis, a very good idea.

Make sure that you have the latest version of IE supported by your version of Windows--for WinXP, WinVista, or Win7 this is Internet Explorer 8. You might also install Maxthon for better security and other features--but please avoid IE in general.

You probably need to update your Java and Flash, too. Download links for everything I have mentioned here are on my Internet related Links page.

Clickjacking -- and a fix

There has been a lot of talk this week about a newly discovered vulnerability in all modern browsers running under any operating system, including all versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X. Called clickjacking, it's a means of hijacking (redirecting) clicks on links within browsers:
Computerworld article or http://tinyurl.com/3rmfac

Fortunately, a useful fix is available. I have recommended the use of the Mozilla Firefox browser for quite a while. It runs on Windows, OS X, BSD, and Linux. The important information here is that Firefox supports add-ons -- plug-ins that add useful features. That's where the solution comes from; it's yet another reason to (mostly) abandon Microsoft's Internet Explorer under Windows.

I am a long-time user of the NoScript add-on for Firefox, which blocks scripts (which are usually JavaScript-based) from running in the browser -- unless you allow it on a per-site basis (easily managed). It has just been updated to add useful protection against this very vulnerability.

Managing add-ons in Firefox is pretty easy. Go to the Tools menu in the menu-bar top-of-page, select Add-ons. When the dialog window opens, enter noscript in the search box near the top of the window and install the add-on from there. There may be other useful add-ons of interest to users; see the Firefox add-ons page for more information, including the ability to browse add-ons by category.