Today I got a virus on my computer. I don’t even remember the last time this happened.
Why? because when you click a link in Yahoo Desktop Search Beta, it opens in Internet Explorer.
Even without approving it or clicking anything other than a link, there are no further confirmation screens. Even I was surprised by this. You can get infected just by clicking a link — without clicking anything else. Without downloading or executing anything.
You’ve got to be careful what websites you visit when using IE. Not so with Firefox. Browsing with Firefox is the way the web should work.
So this is a reminder for anyone who uses Windows XP. If you haven’t yet gotten it, get Firefox. Now..
By the way, this is accurate as of the latest version of IE available (6.0.2900.2180 with SP2) at the time of this writing: July 25, 2005. I’m still working on getting rid of the adware (someone must be making a fortune from this). Using Firefox is still far safer.
DONT USE YAHOO PORDUCTS.
Use Google’s Desktop Search. or Copernic. thats good too.
Yahoo software sucks. So does MSN software.
both of them keep bloating their downloads.
just use the messengers from them, thats it. no more.
[...] Elliot Lee’s Blog » Using Internet Explorer is Dangerous [...]
Heh, or use a *nix based operating system.
Well, good luck on removing the malware.
Hm, I’ve still never had that happen to me and I can’t stand Firefox. IE clones all the way baby. Go with Maxthon so much better than Firefox and better than a straight use of IE. (Maxthon is based on the IE Kernel…basically a more advanced UI on the same backend.)