Continue reading »]]> Not many of us use dial-up internet connections any more – gone are the days where we had to rely on internet connections that had a typical download speed of 4-8KB/s. Now we have speedy broadband with it’s always-on convenience and wireless capabilities.

However, some of us do rely on mobile broadband “dongles” or mobile phone internet connections to get online when we’re out and about. These can be fantastic, but if it’s set up as a dial up connection in Windows it can prove a nightmare.

If a connection isn’t currently available, Windows is (by default) set to repeatedly ask to dial the best available connection. This has been an issue since very early versions of Windows and Microsoft have never really solved it since.

If a box similar to this one frequently appears whenever an application tries to access the internet, here’s how to solve it.

Open up Internet Explorer (the dreaded) and find Internet Options. You’ll find this under the settings button of the latest version of Internet Explorer. When you’ve got Internet Options up, click the Connections tab.

Under the Connections tab, look at the selection buttons above “Local Area Network (LAN) settings”. Internet Explorer probably has selected on your computer “Dial whenever a network connection is not present”. Change that to “Never dial a connection” and click OK. Close any existing connection requests (you may well get a few more before they stop) and eventually you’ll stop getting asked to connect.

From now on, you won’t be pestered and will only connect to a dial-up connection at your request.

Continue reading »]]> Your days are numbered, Internet Explorer.

I was just checking my Windows Update screen when a certain update appeared as available.

The update cannot be removed once installed.

I installed the update and nothing seemed to change. Tried opening IE, but it just opened as normal. It may be that IE isn’t my default browser (Chrome took that place months back) so it may not affect me anyway.

So if you’re checking out Windows Update, be sure to download that if you’re running IE as you’re default browser.

Continue reading »]]> Internet Explorer’s web browser reign will soon be over!

I’ve just read on the internet that the long awaited browser ballot for Internet Explorer will start in just over a week (1st March).

It will mean that browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox will be able to get a fairer split of the browser market share.

From the 1st of March, an update will be installed onto European Windows computers. The next time Internet Explorer is launched (after the update is installed) a screen will show with a random selection of browsers for users to try. In addition, Internet Explorer will be removed from the taskbar, but it can be put back later.

It finally gives users who don’t understand browsers the chance to try something new.

I’m really looking forward to the launch. Despite the fact Microsoft was very unwilling to launch the browser ballot, the EU has finally forced them to do it and Microsoft are playing ball.

We might actually start to see some genuine market share results now!!

Continue reading »]]> Will Internet Explorer ever be safe to use?

Once again, users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser are at risk. Microsoft recently discovered a vulnerability that could allow a user to turn your system in to a fileserver for your private documents.

Most versions of Internet Explorer are affected. Microsoft has said that any system with a version of Internet Explorer lacking “Protected Mode” is at risk. The user is also at risk if “Protected Mode” has been disabled.

Microsoft are yet to release a fix for this vulnerability. They have said that they are unaware of any hacker currently making use of this potentially disastrous hack.

It’s looking as if Microsoft will (at the earliest) release a patch for this problem next Tuesday (the second Tuesday of each month is the day Microsoft usually release their regular patches and updates). However, I doubt they’ll release an update that soon.

Having not used Internet Explorer in a long time, I would suggest you move away from IE as soon as possible if you can. Try something like Google Chrome or Firefox.

Continue reading »]]> Good for them!

I’m really glad to hear that Google, the biggest search engine on the planet, is to start phasing out support for Internet Explorer 6, after years of it causing problems for the company.

From March 1st, Google says that some Google applications will stop working. This means that users will be forced to either move to IE7/8 or choose a different web browser.

Internet Explorer 6 has been the cause of many web hacks that have caused damage to Google’s varied reputation.

The ending of support will start with only a few web apps at first, but I suspect as the year moves on Google will try to phase out support for most of it’s online software.

The only downside to the ending of support will be that Windows 98 and ME users will, eventually, loose access to Google. However, I think it’s about time people moved away from the older systems.

I think that it’s about time Google did something about the older browsers. The trouble is that people don’t realise that they’re stuck with an older browser.

Continue reading »]]> Remember a while back when I was talking about Microsoft giving users the choice of which browser they use in Windows 7? Well, Microsoft is apparently now going extend this consideration to Windows XP and Vista too.

From what I’ve heard from various sites on the net, Microsoft will be releasing an update (via Windows Update) sometime in the next six months. The update will only appear in Europe and the update will be either a “high priority” or “important” update. Once the update is installed, the next time IE runs, a “ballot” screen will appear showing users all other internet browsers with more than 0.5% (per cent) of the internet browser share in Europe.

Users will then be able to choose a browser that appeals to them and install it.

Users can also choose to stick with Internet Explorer, or be asked again at a date in the future.

In my opinion, this is great news. We might actually be able to get accurate results as to which browser is most important, and users wont be biased into using Internet Explorer anymore.

Thanks Microsoft, this is great news!

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft has finally launched the final version of the new Internet Explorer 8. It’s available for download now - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/worldwide-sites.aspx.

Personally I doubt it will be anything good to look forward to. Microsoft are making some claims that it is faster and easier to use than Google Chrome, but I really doubt it’s true. There’s nothing faster than Chrome (especially in start time) in my opinion.

In any matter, I’ll go and download it as it’ll probably be forced onto my computer with Windows Update in a few weeks time. Might as well get it over and done with .

Continue reading »]]> Ever since I found out about it, I have always been a big fan of Firefox. And then when I found out about Google Chrome, that took over from Firefox altogether. I love Google Chrome plainly because it has such a fast launch time – even on a slow computer – and it renders most code very well. Admittedly there are quite a few bugs, some of which can be quite annoying. But overall, it’s a very nice browser. The interface is good, and the tab management is very nice!

A couple of months ago Microsoft released the first beta of Internet Explorer 8. In my opinion, a total waste of time. It was slow, terrible at organising page elements, and constantly crashing. Then the second beta came out, and that was a slight improvement but nothing major.

I’ve never found Internet Explorer worth it. I think the only reason people use it is because they haven’t heard of Firefox or Chrome. If everybody knew about Firefox or Chrome, I think IE would have very few users.

Also, many people don’t have the time to worry about the browser they use, so they just leave Automatic Updates to keep updating IE whenever it likes.

Most of the features covered by IE were covered by Firefox ages before Microsoft. It seems truelly pointless to me.

What do you think about Internet Explorer? Is it worth it? Do you have a particular reason why IE is good over other browsers?