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IE7Pro beefs up Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox gets a lot of praise for the countless third-party extensions that add features like FTP, download management, and tab customization to the open-source browser. The most popular browser on the market, Internet Explorer, also has its fair share of add-ons, but nowhere near the number or quality of its competitor.

One new download for Internet Explorer, however, adds a number of valuable features that are only replicated in numerous different Firefox extensions. Among its many enhancements, IE7Pro adds tab management, ad blocking, Flash blocking, crash recovery, and the ability to re-open closed tabs to the Microsoft browser. Even cooler, it allows user-based scripts much like Greasemonkey for Firefox. Again, the scripts aren't nearly as impressive as Greasemonkey, but the idea is a good one.

Microsoft fixes nineteen flaws in seven patches; all are considered critical updates

Microsoft has released its May 2007 security bulletin, which includes seven updates: All are listed as Critical. Two of the patches affect Microsoft Windows, with one critical patch specific to Internet Explorer. Three of the patches affects Microsoft Office, and include Office for Mac 2004 uses. To keep your Windows XP SP1 system secure, update to Windows XP SP2 today. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS07-023: Critical

Entitled "Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (934233)" this bulletin affects users … Read more

News Roundup: Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube

Microsoft eyeing Yahoo deal. The New York Post is reporting that Microsoft has recently become very interested in trying to buy out Yahoo. Yahoo's projected sales price is reported to hover around $50 Billion. Such an acquisition would include popular Web properties like Flickr, Hot Jobs, and Microsoft rivals like Yahoo Messenger and Mail. ( CNET News.com)

Popular on YouTube? You may soon get a profit cut. YouTube is offering its most popular users with recurring content the chance to share revenue from ads adjacent to their videos. A revenue sharing program for the video hosting service has long … Read more

Windows animated cursor attack

There's a new Microsoft Windows vulnerability being exploited across the Internet on over 100 Web sites, according to security vendor Websense. The vulnerability is caused by an unspecified error in the way Windows 2000, XP, and Vista handles animated cursors. Animated cursors allow a mouse pointer to appear animated on a Web site. The feature is often designated by the .ani suffix, but attacks for this vulnerability are not constrained by this file type so simply blocking .ani files won't necessarily protect a PC. Users need not do anything but visit a compromised site to become infected. Antivirus … Read more

IE 7 on Vista: Mostly secure

When is your shiny new Windows Vista protected against evil Web threats? Not as often as we were all led to believe in those Microsoft Windows Vista ads.

I ran across this post from Microsoft's Internet Explorer blog site shortly after the software giant patched the animated cursor flaw in Windows Vista with the release of MS07-017. Microsoft has said that users running IE 7 under Windows Vista are better protected from the malicious effects of Web exploits such as the animated cursor exploit than users running IE 7 under Windows XP because of the introduction of a new &… Read more

IE 7 on Vista: Mostly secure

When is your shiny new Windows Vista protected against evil Web threats? Not as often as we were all led to believe in all those Microsoft Windows Vista ads. I ran across this post from Microsoft's Internet Explorer blog site shortly after the software giant patched the animated cursor flaw in Windows Vista with the release of MS07-017. Microsoft has said that users running IE 7 under Windows Vista are better protected from the malicious effects of Web exploits such as the animated cursor exploit than users running IE 7 under Windows XP IE 7 due to the introduction of a new "sandbox" element (called Protected Mode) within the new operating system. For example, in the case of the animated cursor attack, with Protected Mode enabled, remote attackers can only view files on an infected Windows Vista machine, not run malicious code. Now it seems there are exceptions.

Microsoft says that Protected Mode for IE 7 under Windows Vista is enabled by default only for sites within the Internet, Intranet, and Restricted zones. It is not enabled for Trusted Sites or Local Machine zones. Thus, you are likely to see the Protected Mode icon switch from On to Off and back again as you move between sites that fall within different Internet Explorer zones. To remedy this, Microsoft says you must enable or disable Protected Mode for Trusted Sites or Local Machine zones yourself.

Weezu puts floating head chat in your browser

Weezu is a downloadable chat app that runs as an extension in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Like some of the other chat apps we've covered lately, Weezu resides in a sidebar on your browser. It's a bit more graphical than some of the other extensions out there, and if you want something that's a little prettier than plain text, Weezu's for you.

One of the things that attracted me to Weezu was its eccentric interface, which puts you in several different locals and is completely skinnable. My favorite is the sea floor--if you had kids … Read more

News Roundup: Google ads and stats, browser cookie havoc, Flickr stock photos, soccer fans on YouTube

>> Google Reader and the Google home page now provide readerships. Google's popular RSS reader and personalized home page now lets publishers know how many people have subscribed to their content feeds. Most of the Web has patiently been awaiting Google to provide advanced traffic data, and this might be the first big step. On a related note, if you're using either service you can subscribe to the Webware RSS feed using the link under 'Webware Feeds.' (Official Google Reader Blog)

>> Google snags AdScape for $23 million, source says. AdScape does in-game advertising, the kind … Read more

Wal-Mart joins downloadable movie battle

Wal-Mart is joining the fray of movie download services today. Its new store (which is mysteriously unfriendly to Firefox) features movies from all six major studios including Disney and Sony--two studios that have a long history of proprietary use and ties to competing download services.

Films range from about $13 to $20 and can be watched almost immediately depending on your connection. Movies are managed and played through a custom player that runs only on Windows PCs. You also can watch the movies in Windows Media Player. Like the iTunes Movie Store, titles released on DVD will be available … Read more

Update for Internet Explorer 7

If you've disabled the antiphishing filter in Internet Explorer 7, you're not alone. The filter, as it currently works, takes something short of forever to process each site, deciding whether to mark it as safe for viewing or suspect as a potential phishing site. In response, Microsoft has quietly issued a service update for users of Internet Explorer 7 for XP and Windows Vista, running on Windows Vista (all editions, including x64 editions), Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Professional x64, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows Server 2003 SP1 x64 editions.