CNET presents 5 browsing horror stories and their solutions

By Rex Baldazo
(1/31/02)

Do you love chocolate but wish it came with fewer calories? That's how we feel about Internet Explorer 6: its raft of extras is nothing but trouble. We and many of our readers have encountered plenty of bugs and a lot of problematic behavior in the new browser--everything from the way IE 6 plays multimedia files to security holes bigger than the Grand Canyon.

But, for better or worse, IE is still the most popular and widely supported browser on the Web. So, rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater, we've fished around and found fixes to some of IE 6's most common and creepy problems. We can't guarantee these will exorcise all of your IE 6 demons, but they're a start.

The attack of the shrinking JPEG
Tired of all those big Pamela Lee images magically shrinking, thanks to IE's auto-resize "feature"? Not to worry, there's an easy way to stop it.

Murder on the Java express
Microsoft isn't exactly playing nice with Sun's Java language, but we can show you how to patch IE 6's Java holes.

The silence of the sound card
Bummed because IE 6 doesn't play your favorite multimedia files? With a bit of elbow grease, you can have it humming any tune you want.

The telltale shopping cart
IE 6 sometimes won't let you surf secure Web pages, which makes online shopping kind of tough. We have tips on how to restore secure surfing.

The invasion of the hackers from hell
Worried about the constant stream of press detailing one IE security hole after another? Here's how to dam the flow. Why does IE 6 make Web site images shrink? Rex Baldazo is a software engineer for CNET and a frequent contributor to CNET Software. Got a question for him? We'll pass it on.