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Thread: Microsoft starting silent upgrades of Internet Explorer.

  1. #1
    HYBR|D
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    Microsoft starting silent upgrades of Internet Explorer.

    Copies Chrome and follows Firefox to get users onto the newest browser without asking permission

    Microsoft today said it will silently upgrade Internet Explorer (IE) starting next month, arguing that taking the responsibility out of the hands of users will keep the Web safer.

    The move is an acknowledgement by Microsoft that Google's model -- its Chrome browser has updated in the background without user involvement since it debuted more than three years ago -- is the right one.

    "It's the future ... for all software," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security. "At this point, at least in the consumer space, people are expecting software to be up to date, and for it to do it itself."

    uh last i checked i decided what is/isn't done to my machine, I don't feel comfortable leaving those sorts of decisions up to some company that honestly does not have my best interest in mind.

    I bet during/after all this they will then spout on about how many people have now started using x,y,z & how many have moved from x,y,z all due to this "Spyware" that they have/will be planting on people's computers.

    Any1 actually use any version of Internet Explorer here How do you feel about potentially having a update near forced onto you?

  2. #2
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    Not really being 'up' on computers anymore, i picked up my daughter's laptop. it was upgraded to windows 8 (?), had bing as the search engine and would not let me download firefox saying it was bad for my computer. is this what they're takling about or is this a different virus?

    if this is the MS virus (which they call an OS) i've never seen anything more unscrupulus in my poor mispelled life

    BTW neither her nor her husband said they up....ahhh mis graded the browser.

    i just bought a computer, the first one i ever had to buy, but i use backtrack on a flash drive, my wife wants windows. if it were just me i would put SUSE on it but she shelled out the bucks even though it was a birthday present for me. (im sure some know how that goes)
    Last edited by Ted0b1; December 16th, 2011 at 09:04 AM.

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Personally I run File Hippo Update Checker and Secunia PSI. I don't like things updating themselves as they always seem to want to do it when I am in the middle of something. When File Hippo tells me there is a browser update I just open the browser and let it get on with it. That works for Chrome, FF and Opera. In the past IE just updated with the regular patch Tuesday stuff, so I guess they are separating the IE and Windows updates?

    I am also wary of running updates when something else is running in case there is a conflict.

    If you want Windows 8 you have to download and install it deliberately. It doesn't update, it bundles your existing OS into a save folder and you can't use it without reinstalling.

    This is Windows 8 and I am running FireFox. It installed with no problems or comments.

    It sounds like you have some malware there?

    I do run IE as some of my applications want it to update themselves............I do have to run it deliberately though.
    Last edited by nihil; December 16th, 2011 at 10:36 AM.

  4. #4
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    IMO it won't be long until the auto update function is compromised by evil doers.
    When that happens all sorts of malware can be auto updated to a computer near you.

    I wish to maintain total control over what is installed on my equipment. There is a similar issue with apps on an Android platform, but there one can control auto update on an app by app basis.

    My last bad experience with auto update was with The Weather Channel app on Android. It was a nice app without advertising. One day it auto updated to a version with advertising. That's just what everyone needs to run up their cellular data bill. Long story short, I deleted the app and installed the old version from backup and turned off auto update.
    Last edited by ua549; December 16th, 2011 at 02:30 PM.

  5. #5
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Another downside is that it tends to screw up from time to time. I remember gore and his wife had trouble with Windows update a few weeks ago. A friend of mine had problems with the same update as it "lost" his Windows partition, and a whole load of files.

    Fortunately he had a linux distro and recovered his files but he ended up reinstalling Windows.

    I guess that if the browser actually checks for an update, rather than just having it squirted at you out of the blue, it will be reasonably safe. Provided, of course, it rejects any update it didn't initiate.

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    Along those lines does anyone know what the security protocol is in any of the updates?

  7. #7
    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    Fret not young traveler...You too can remain incontrol of your pc:

    Microsoft's scheme differs from either Mozilla's or Google's, however, in that the company will let enterprises retain control of upgrades. Nor will it force updates on consumers who have already declined earlier offers to abandon an older IE.

    Under its plan, IE will be silently upgraded only to those users who have opted in to automatic updates on the Windows Update service.

    "[And] customers who have declined previous installations of IE8 or IE9 through Windows Update will not be automatically updated," Microsoft promised in a Thursday blog post.

  8. #8
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    I'm Coining a new Term just for Microsoft and Internet Explorer:

    Patch Rape.

    No means NO Microsoft!

    You wouldn't think with a name like "Micro" and "Soft" that Rape would be an issue but apparently they have some of that there haxxer Viagra or something to force IT up as well. Now, after I finish pissing myself laughing, I'll try and keep this going....

    I was almost killed by a drunk driver yesterday. Our Car is currently in a Yard waiting for Monday when they go see if it's totaled or not. I'm not making this up; A White Van Literally swerved at me forcing me off the road, and I landed bouncing in a ditch, and those 3 inch thick Metal cables that hold it to the ground, ended up embedded in the front passenger side of the car, basically cutting the tire off.

    This is what it looks like now:

    http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...12039052_n.jpg

    http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...14142085_n.jpg

    That's our Car with the Cable ripped into it. The guy was drunk as ****. He kept swerving back and forth, and eventually turned on his turn signal for the left, and I slowed down as he was in front of me. The speed limit on that road is 50 MPH, and so I was slowing down, and then he turns his right turn signal on, and I still slow down.

    He pulls off the road and starts pulling into a parking lot, and as I'm going by, I think "wow, what an ass".... Them I see him SWERVE at me; I think he must be getting back onto the road, so I swerve into the on coming traffic lane while slamming on the breaks and turning the wheel so he doesn't hit me.

    There's no Traffic in that lane, so it's safer than being hit. To my horror, I notice he's NOT stopping for ME, and he's NOT going straight.... He continues to go left, and now, I'm REALLY hitting the breaks, and turning the wheel, as he's almost crashing into me and I'm trying to avoid this.

    He turns onto the dirt road to my left in front of me, and, I manage to not hit this stupid son of a bitch. But, because of the brakes, and the snow; I start sliding into a ditch....

    When I landed, I hit, bounced, and that cable grabbed the front end, and flung me sideways.

    When I finally land, I look up to see him. He's slowing down and I'm expecting to see him get out and see if I'm OK since he ****ing did this.

    Instead, I see the Van slow down, and then, when I look up at the van to see the Plate, HE FLOORS IT AND DRIVES OFF AS FAST AS HE CAN....

    So yea.... I was almost killed by a drunk driver who then sped off before the Cops showed up. Thank God my Wife was at home and not in the car with me; She had Her first Panic attack in a car and can't handle **** like that.

    The tow truck driver was amazed I'd managed not to hit him. He flat out told me he'd never seen anything like it in his 30+ years driving the Tow Truck. He looked at the tire Marks, looked at what he could see on the road, and asked me how the **** I managed not to hit the ****er.

    So, to say I've had a rough one, would be putting it just a little mildly. We find out Monday if we have to pay the $1,000.00 Deductible or not, and, if the car is totaled or not.

    The cop seemed impressed too. The Fire Department had to come out and cut the Cable to get the car off of it.

    Had I not grabbed the wheel, and turned HARD, I'd have been cut in half. So, much like the windowless van that tried to kill me on the 16th, which is the last time I slept, Microsoft forcing themselves on me, is not on my to do list.

    As for me, I'm fine. Though, when I eventually find that person, I can't say I WANT to, because I know a part of me, deep down, will be Hoping I "Forgot" to call the Police when I see them. none of the businesses on that road have Camera's facing the road; We asked. No one saw a thing.

    But, they aren't the only one who can cause a tragedy and leave no witnesses.

  9. #9
    HYBR|D
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    I'm assuming it's FWD also? yeah hard breaking while yanking hard on the steering wheel ain't going to be pretty.

    throw the wet/slippery road n not fun at all.

    personally i would of just accelerated and nailed the sucker

    Did you get the exact license plate details? hopefully the police can track him down.

    edit, here in australia, that would easily be a write off, due to the A frame being bent. but different places different verdicts really.
    Last edited by HYBR|D; December 18th, 2011 at 12:44 PM.

  10. #10
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Well, if I'd hit him, that would actually have been worse off though, now, it's REALLY hard to think like that; But in reality, hitting him would have set off air bags and that's like an instant large sum of money extra right off the bat.

    The Insurance Company specifically asked me if the bags went off and I said no because I managed to avoid hitting the ****er. Both the two truck Driver and cop were equally impressed I managed to somehow not hit him.

    Normally I'd agree with you that hitting the brakes and swerving isn't the best idea, but in this case; I couldn't do my go to move of avoiding this; Swerving into a Parking lot. I've used that on that very road a few times and, after YEARS of street racing, I can tell you that most people who hit the brakes, also hit other cars too, but since he went off the road onto the shoulder to turn into a parking lot, and, without even stopping, swerved back into the two lane road RIGHT at me, and then, kept going at me all the way to the side road on the LEFT side, there was no avoiding it; I had to make a choice of hitting him, and deploying the air bags, which is a couple grand right there, and MASSIVE damage, or, taking my chances on the dirt in the ditch.

    I went with plan B and thankfully the Air Bags didn't go off. Cousin's Sister recently died because her air bags went off and it actually killed her. She actually died from the impact the bags made with her. That I'm assuming is VERY Rare.

    The road itself wasn't slippery yet, but the reason I slid anyway was that, well, the speed limit there is 50 MPH, which is 80 KMh, and at that speed.... And Believe me, I've gone over this a hundred times in my head, the ONLY thing I could think of that I could have tried, where I MIGHT have come out without any damage, is a trick I learned back in my street racing days;

    E-Brake controlled slide into on coming lane backwards; I've done this before I think three or four times, but it's REALLY dangerous to pull off on a two lane street that has a 50 MPH / 80 KMh Speed Limit.

    Basically, you pull the E-Brake, cut the wheel HARD, and then ease off the E-Brake and go back to your normal brakes, and then floor the Gas Pedal.

    If you've done this right, you'll do a 180, and end up spinning around ONE time, and then end up in the other lane, going in the right direction. You basically do a controlled slide by forcing the car to spin into the other lane backwards, and then you hit the gas hard enough to get up to speed and land it where you just basically reverse what you were doing.

    Say you were heading South, and you pull this off; You'd end up heading North, in the other lane, and then, you have to hit the gas again to sort of spin back into the lane.

    I've done that a few times; a few times running from cops during a race where they came to arrest people for street racing, and once because an ******* hit the brakes in front of me on ice, and I had to get out of the other lane as well because a van was coming in the on coming lane.

    Now, that stuff works great, but, if you DON'T do EVERY little part of that right, and your timing is off by even a half of a quarter second; You'll basically just flip the car a few times and land on whatever is hard enough, and stable enough, to stop the car from flipping.

    I've seen people die trying it, and that's a very real possibility, and that did go through my mind as I was trying to stop from the guy hitting me and taking off the front end of the car.

    The only reason I managed to pull this off before is that when I got into street racing, my best friend, taught me everything. He was a wheel man and a stunt driver, so he knew basically how to do almost anything behind the wheel. I couldn't risk it with this guy because he was drunk, and he seemed to actually be trying to hit me for some reason.

    The part of the road this happened on, has no street lights, and the dirt road I landed on and he flew down, also has no lights, so I didn't get a plate number at all.

    Basically once I landed, I looked right at the van and saw he was slowing down. I thought he was stopping to see if I was alright considering what he'd just done, and instead, he sped off.

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