[Banana]

What the hell?

When I got the Dell, I did what I was told to protect it- one of thing I did was to install Firefox, and in the process, I had Windows delete the Internet Explorer from Add/Remove programs tools, along with other unnecessary stuff (e.g. .NET, Mircosoft Network, and so forth)

But when I start installing my programs in, it has to do an online activation. Somehow it manage to call Internet Explorer from dead!!!! I look, and the box is still unchecked...

And that's not all- I had some updates that came on so I go to Mircosoft's website to install the latest updates. They say, "Oh uh. You need ActiveX" Well, your ActiveX is fucking dangerous, thank you! So I can't update my Microsoft things without an Internet Explorer.

Seriously the option to delete Internet Explorer is truly a sham. Really galls me considering that was the subject of a long controversy in court whether Mircosoft could force IE on people. Is what the court came to- You may remove the IE if you want, but you'll still need it to do certain things. Sorry.

[Insert a kid going Muhahahahaha]

[mattf]

I'm on a customer site at the moment (long scripts being run, which is why I'm on the forum) and I can only use IE here. Fuck I hate it. I hate adverts, I hate pop-ups, I hate crashes that just about bring down the whole machine, I hate not having tabs, I hate IE.

I'm probably going to get my terminology wrong here, but IE is really just a subclass of Explorer. Deinstalling IE in the Control Panel only gets rid of some (one?) .dll file, I think.

Oh, if you really need to use the Windows Update site and insist on using Firefox, I'm sure that there's an extension for Firefox that allows ActiveX. Not that it's recommended, obviously. But you can always install the extension, go to the Windows Update site, update and then remove the extension.

[alcimedes]

Every time you open a window of any sort on your computer you're running explorer. They can't actually remove it.

Try typing a web address into the location bar in any windows folder, and you're on the 'net.

[Franz Josef]

I sympathise with you Banana - it's the nature of the Redmond beast. I'm hoping that times are a changin' and it'll be slayed in the next few years. I've recently had a long discussion with my online bank about the merits and otherwise of Active X - they restrict their premium services to Active X users. Some day they'll learn.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by alcimedes Every time you open a window of any sort on your computer you're running explorer. They can't actually remove it. Try typing a web address into the location bar in any windows folder, and you're on the 'net.

Exactly. Believe it or not, IE is built right into the Window's navigation system. Part of that whole "blending the desktop and the interrnet" thing M$ was onto w/XP. You can tell the computer to delete IE, but it never goes away. I think M$ found a loophole in the court ruling, whereas the court said you must give people an option to remove it, but the ruling doesn't say the software then has to BE removed, nor does it say that M$ cannot require IE to perform certain functions.

Get a Mac, dude!

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Banana What the hell? When I got the Dell, I did what I was told to protect it- one of thing I did was to install Firefox, and in the process, I had Windows delete the Internet Explorer from Add/Remove programs tools, along with other unnecessary stuff (e.g. .NET, Mircosoft Network, and so forth) But when I start installing my programs in, it has to do an online activation. Somehow it manage to call Internet Explorer from dead!!!! I look, and the box is still unchecked...

Internet Explorer as in the application is gone, Internet Explorer as in the technology (e.g. the rendering engine) is not.

It's pretty much the same as removing Safari -- you won't get rid of WebCore, JavaScriptCore and WebKit that way. Other apps can still use those.

[alcimedes]

Well, it's not actually the same though. You're allowed to hide IE, but you can't delete it. (unlike safari which you can happily throw away)

If you run the Windows Update application, it will launch IE every time, not just explorer.

[pmazer]

Nice signature, Banana

[chucker]

Originally Posted by alcimedes Well, it's not actually the same though. You're allowed to hide IE, but you can't delete it. (unlike safari which you can happily throw away)

True.

If you run the Windows Update application, it will launch IE every time, not just explorer.

True. There's ways to circumvent that; you can use WindizUpdate, for instance, which works with Firefox.

[atomicbartbeans]

Dude. If you must use a peecee, at least dual-boot to Linux.

That way, you can avoid Windows whenever possible.

[Banana]

The biggest irony of this thing was that I was aiming for a no hassle setup...

I did consider Linux but balked when I got the impression that it's not quite that intuitive.

I simply just want to do engineering drafting, not computer jockeying, thankyouverymuch.

Pmazer, thanks! It is true- the hardware are great.... it's just OS that I don't like.

[ast3r3x]

Originally Posted by Banana the hardware are great...

I volunteered for grammar duty in another thread, so I find that I must correct you on that sentence.

Singular = is (hardware is great)

Plural = are (computer components are great)

I do not know the plural of the word 'hardware.'


PS - I believe I've broken several grammar rules in my post, but we will forget about them for the time being.

[Franz Josef]

Originally Posted by ast3r3x I volunteered for grammar duty in another thread, so I find that I must correct you on that sentence. Singular = is (hardware is great) Plural = are (computer components are great) I do not know the plural of the word 'hardware.' PS - I believe I've broken several grammar rules in my post, but we will forget about them for the time being.

Your grammars are great.

[Banana]

It's nice to know that IE can be circumvented to some degree, but still-

I can't help but wonder if this whole lawsuit in 90s was simply orcheastrated to show that M$ has repented and now are good guys fighting piracy, with Justice Department on their side (who happen to get free goodies popping up on their computer now and then)

Maybe I'll just get me a nice set of Windows... you know, the one made of glass panes and wooden frames... Will do me a bit of good.

Edit= Surely you know that grammar does not apply to rants.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Banana . . . was simply orcheastrated to show . . .

Nasty grammar thread from hell! Is an 'orcheastrate' a flower?

[Banana]

*thanks God that he does not have to deal with articles, subject/verb agreement, and other unpleaseant aspects of English in his native language*

[chucker]

Well, English only has two articles, the and a/an. Just be glad you don't have to deal with French, German or similar languages, which have several articles depending on gender, case, etc.

[bostongeek]

Can't the latest version of Netscape be used to perform Windows updates? Granted, ActiveX is still necessary, but tis better than feeling chained to IE.

[SledgeHammer]

Heh, turns out, getting rid of IE on a mac isn't even completely safe. I tossed IE on my Mac a long time ago. But then, when I tried to setup my Comcast Internet Service, I ran the install app and it asked me where IE was, I tried to feed it another browser, but it wouldn't bite. After several attempts, it opened a page in Safari that said "We have determined that you don't have Internet Explorer" and provided a link to the M$ download page. The thing is, it wouldn't allow me to get online until I had run the intall program which I couldn't do without IE. I think if I had dug around in the program contents enough, I might have been able to get it going in Safari, but I shouldn't have to. I used my cellphone to get online and download IE, then I could run the app, which was really just a series of HTML pages. Absolutely no reason it had to be run in IE. I fucking hate when sites cripple themselves like that for no particular reason. Of course, that was only the middle to a whole series of troubles I had getting Comcast hooked up in my new place. I was going to post a whole rant thread about it. Perhaps I still will.

[Banana]

Wow. That's like... [speechless]

[atomicbartbeans]

Heheh... this is like when I got Road Runner a few months ago.

On the first page, the booklet said "Before you do anything, stick this CD into your computer, so you can activate your account, install our software, custom IE browser, and troubleshooting application, so you can get the best Road Runner Experience".

Translation: "Stick this CD into your computer so we can fuck with your system preferences, install crappy crap you don't need, add a slew of unnecessary startup items to your account, install a crappy browser and email program with our brand name on it and set it as your default, and leave your computer raped and dead on the side of the information superhighway."

Needless to say, the only thing I did to set up was plug the modem into my router.

[turtle]

I just did the same for a friend. Cox here on the east coast has a similar disk that she was going to install. I saved her.