Dotan Cohen wrote: > > I don't use Windows, so I don't know if OE is uninstallable by > conventional means. So long as your default client is set to something > OTHER than OE, and you don't open OE by yourself, then you should be > safe from it's vulnerabilities (assuming that your machine is not > owned). I do know that Internet Exporer can be removed by > unconventional means, but that it causes problems when removed. For > instance, the Windows help files are really compressed html files and > removing IE removes the trident engine from Windows (it's a shared > component and apparently Windows dependancy management leaves a lot to > be desired).
Apparently, even setting the default browser to Firefox or other doesn't always work. In the recent Iowa MS trial, a tech setting up internet access for the lawyers found that out the hard way. Even though he had set Firefox as default, somehow IE became default and it took a lot of effort to change back. This happened right in front of the court that was handling the MS antitrust case! Incidentally, this problem with IE being tied so close to the operating system is the result of another MS lawsuit over forced bundling of IE. MS claimed it had to be there, as it was part of the OS and sure enough, when the next version of Windows appeared, it was. So MS deliberately did that, in violation of good software engineering practices, solely to back up a claim made in court. The world has been suffering for it ever since. You can thank MS for doing the above for much of the security problems with Windows. You don't have anywhere near that level of risk with anything else. For example, there has never been a viable virus for Linux. I don't recall any for OS/2 either. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
