Peter Ottery wrote:
Peter Firminger wrote:
Not at all recommended on any machine you care about.
Just for my own peace of mind tho - they're only a security issue when
you have launched the program right? so if i'm launching them (old
standalone IE5 & 5.5) once a month to *only* test pages that I've
created - I'm not leaving my system open to some rogue security
breaching action right?
I'm hoping the evolt guys have removed any of the known spyware hooks
that were packaged with those browsers (also called "browser helper
objects" - see http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/bho/). The problem
with running IE on a Windows box is just WTF it does in the registry - I
don't believe anyone outside of MS actually knows everything IE gets up
to, system-wise.
Also, make sure your firewall is solid and your AV up to date. IE is
_built_ to download and install stuff. Run ZoneAlarm or something like
it (*not* Windows Firewall that comes with XP - it knows to let IE
through) so you can tell if something does start up and try to access
the net.
The rule of thumb when installing a new machine is that it only takes 18
minutes online to get infected (takes longer than that to download the
patches - catch 22 - see
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec082904.html) - and it may be
something as simple as lowering your security level in the background
and leaving it there.
I can think of 2 secure ways to use IE/windows to test webpages:
1 run a webserver on a separate box _inside_ your firewall and install
your pages there for testing - stack a firewall between the systems if
you need to test that.
2 run VirtualPC (or some other windows emulator) on a good fast Mac
with lots of RAM (and I'm thinking 1GB and up here) - if you get
infected - it's not going to compromise your system and you can easily
replace the disk image.
I've worked with both options and never got a virus from testing yet.
Actually, the only virus I can remember getting was a Sasser infection
while upgrading my wife's machine to XP (see above)
cheers
mark
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