The Long Road

03/25/2004 Archived Entry: "Stupid IE"

It crashes when it starts up now! Screw you Microsoft! Hadoken! TATSUMAKISEMPUKYAKU!!!

But to its defence I think it's because of all the crap spyware that got installed, without my knowing, on top of it. Like this weird blue toolbar (I can't check what it's called cuz I can't use IE) that comes back everytime I start up IE even though I disable it. Or worse, the floating toolbar that takes almost 10 clicks of the 'x' button to close. Anyways, I've uninstalled IE completely now. It may come back, one always needs a secondary browser.

The worst is when people insist on streaming media through the incredibly invasive RealPlayer. Not only is the video quality crap but you get that stupid cycle where you can't click on "continue" during install without selecting "please email me 10 times a day and send not so anonymous user information". Poke me with a spork! I thought such things only existed in parodies of Windows!

Replies: 17 comments

Ad-Aware will solve all your spyware troubles. OK it will solve most of them.
Or just get rid of Windows, and switch to Linux. Try Knoppix!

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Posted by sbdep @ 03/25/2004 07:31 AM EST

I've stopped using RealPlayer and refuse to install it on my machine.. it's a horrible thing.
If any video requires RealPlayer, then it's not worth seeing.

Posted by Arshwana @ 03/25/2004 10:46 AM EST

IE has started to crash on me as well, although not during start-up. It elects to screw me over at randomly defined moments.

I also have problems with my homepage setup (SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!). Everytime I open IE, I want it to open Yahoo's homepage. I always access the "Internet Options" and set it as the homepage (with the APPLY button), but to no avail. The next time I reboot, I get this stupid fucken page that doesn't even work. It really annoys me to go in and reset the homepage to Yahoo every single time. Any suggestions? (No, I'm not willing to kill Bill Gates...yet; I rather rob him!)

Oh, I did uninstall and reinstall IE. Did not change a thing, as expected.

Posted by dAN @ 03/25/2004 11:18 AM EST

bonzi, kazaa, comet cursor, and the infamous gator....

the lesson to be learned is:

Never install anything unless you know and trust the source code/company.

Posted by ian @ 03/25/2004 01:58 PM EST

except I don't know who/how/where/when all this crap was installed on my PC. Just appeared one day.

Linux users are like Christians, always trying to convert others at the first opportunity! *ducks*

Posted by Rayne @ 03/25/2004 02:23 PM EST

REPENT!

But seriously, the problem is that there are no rules in Windows-land. If you've just be working with the default settings on your computer, anything from an e-mail to a single webpage to a benign useful program can install something it isn't supposed to. And the whole "you require __ to continue" argumnet makes you want to install it, even if it hurts.

My advice: don't download anything because you HAVE to. Do some research, figure out if the company has a histroy of spyware/adware. This is really why open source can be better, because no one would work on public code that does crazy things on purpose, or else it would be forked fast, with the community following the fork.

I'm not saying you can't trust closed software, i'm just saying you can trust almost all open source software.

Posted by ian @ 03/25/2004 02:56 PM EST

Wow, you seem to have many issues going on there. I always kinda' wonder what people are up to that they can have so many different spyware things on their computer at once. The odd time something is installed on mine that I don't want, off it goes right away.

After trying numerous different browsers, I find IE to be the most stable. It crashes far less often than others. However, I really do love tabbed browsing so I've gone with Avant Browser. Web-browsing problem solved!

As for the RealPlayer issue - I agree: It's a piece of crap. Solution? Try using Real Alternative instead. It's a codec that allows you to watch Real media through the built in (original) Windows Media player. It's much better.

Posted by Romer @ 03/25/2004 03:02 PM EST

ian .. do you perhaps have a virus? b/c i had a virus that kept resetting my home page ... or that's what i assume it was since after i got the anti-virus software and fixed everything, it turned back to normal

or it could be the wonderful spyware ... those tricky ppl .. always wanting to spy on us

Posted by melpie @ 03/25/2004 04:17 PM EST

Here's a thought:
Get Firefox - The Browser
Bang! spyware, popups and virus problems are gone.

Posted by Joe @ 03/25/2004 10:49 PM EST

But it crashes more often than IE!

Posted by Romer @ 03/26/2004 12:12 AM EST

Why would you use IE when firefox exists?

Posted by Dave @ 03/26/2004 09:46 AM EST

Cuz they're stupid? Seriously though, I've never serious crashing issues with Firefox, in fact I can't even remember the last time it crashed. IE on the other hand...

Joe: Your image got stripped when I removed the html tag settings. Now your comment makes no sense. Much like that chef one.

Posted by Rayne @ 03/26/2004 12:36 PM EST

Firefox is still buggy, not that i'm saying it's bad, by all means it's better than IE. But still buggy. Firebird was better IMO

Posted by Anonymous @ 03/26/2004 02:31 PM EST

Hey, it's the real me. I use Firefox, generally the latest nightlies, or safari. But Firefox rules. Love, DJ Kimothy

Posted by DJ Kimothy @ 03/27/2004 01:38 PM EST

You know, Marvel has a character named Firefox. Maybe they'll force Mozilla to change their product's name yet again?

Posted by Rayne @ 03/29/2004 02:02 PM EST

Nah, Mozilla has a trademark for computer programs on "firefox." Since it's a *trade*mark, it doesn't apply for things not in the same field.

(Doesn't mean places don't still try, though.)

Posted by Joe @ 03/29/2004 02:05 PM EST

hey dAN, i had the same problem with IE a while ago. my homepage would always be changed to some crazy search engine page. i installed norton and it told me which files were doing it, but it didn't catch all of them. whenever i reset my computer, i'd get crazy browser back as my homepage

solution: set your homepage to what you want in your registry, then write protect that section of your registy for all users (admin, system, yourself, etc). bingo. no more browser hijacking.

and yes, the solution is a little extreme. but just try and fuck with my homepage settings now!

Posted by shawnathan @ 04/01/2004 09:16 PM EST