ShowMe
17th September 2003, 08:04 AM
There's an awful lot of posts in this forum about Windows "security", how different browsers are superior, etc.
Unfortunately most sites out there are made to work best with Internet Explorer. Outlook Web Assist can get pretty weird if you use something other than IE, for instance.
The problems with Internet Explorer are many and varied, but some of us are stuck with the browser whether we like it or not.
Try this: Go into Internet options and delete your history (and cache, and temp files, and cookies). Do you realize that your history still exists? Go ahead, clear everything out...I'll wait.
Now that you've done that do a search for the index.dat file and open it up with notepad. Or you can download spider at http://www.fsm.nl/ward/ and check it out. Interesting stuff....imagine that your employer was doing this instead of you. Anything in that history you prefer they not see?
Conspiracy theories abound as to why MSoft does this, but that's not what this post is about. If we're stuck with the browser because of work then we need to do something other than simply switch programs.
So here are 3 easy tips few tips to make IE work better and to (hopefully) keep some of your privacy:
1.) Download 3S from http://www.igorshpak.net . This program allows you to delete all of your history, including the history in the index.dat files. Best of all it's free (though I would suggest sending the guy $10 through paypal via the donate button on the program)
2.) From Explorer go to Tools->Internet Options and click "Settings" under "Temporary Internet Files". Chances are it's set to some ridiculous sum (like 560 MB); if you're on a broadband connection you don't need that much cache. It's just taking up room on your hard drive. Change it to something a little less out there (35 MB works well for me).
3.) As long as your in Internet Tools, click the Security tab, click Trust Sites & then click the Sites button. These are sites that can have pretty much full control of your computer. I know AOL adds itself in here (or did at one time). If there are sites in here you don't recognize or don't trust, now would be a good time to remove them.
Anyone else have some hints and tips for IE? Please, no "get a different program". Let's assume that's not an option.
Unfortunately most sites out there are made to work best with Internet Explorer. Outlook Web Assist can get pretty weird if you use something other than IE, for instance.
The problems with Internet Explorer are many and varied, but some of us are stuck with the browser whether we like it or not.
Try this: Go into Internet options and delete your history (and cache, and temp files, and cookies). Do you realize that your history still exists? Go ahead, clear everything out...I'll wait.
Now that you've done that do a search for the index.dat file and open it up with notepad. Or you can download spider at http://www.fsm.nl/ward/ and check it out. Interesting stuff....imagine that your employer was doing this instead of you. Anything in that history you prefer they not see?
Conspiracy theories abound as to why MSoft does this, but that's not what this post is about. If we're stuck with the browser because of work then we need to do something other than simply switch programs.
So here are 3 easy tips few tips to make IE work better and to (hopefully) keep some of your privacy:
1.) Download 3S from http://www.igorshpak.net . This program allows you to delete all of your history, including the history in the index.dat files. Best of all it's free (though I would suggest sending the guy $10 through paypal via the donate button on the program)
2.) From Explorer go to Tools->Internet Options and click "Settings" under "Temporary Internet Files". Chances are it's set to some ridiculous sum (like 560 MB); if you're on a broadband connection you don't need that much cache. It's just taking up room on your hard drive. Change it to something a little less out there (35 MB works well for me).
3.) As long as your in Internet Tools, click the Security tab, click Trust Sites & then click the Sites button. These are sites that can have pretty much full control of your computer. I know AOL adds itself in here (or did at one time). If there are sites in here you don't recognize or don't trust, now would be a good time to remove them.
Anyone else have some hints and tips for IE? Please, no "get a different program". Let's assume that's not an option.