# Internet Explorer 7



## George Wallace (19 Oct 2006)

Anyone upgrade to IE7 yet?  I did and now my ActiveX and Flash don't work.  Any ideas what is required in the way of a Fix?


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## Mike Bobbitt (19 Oct 2006)

I've been using IE 7 since some early betas... sort of. I actually use Firefox, but IE7 seems to be working fine for me when I do use it.


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## Journeyman (19 Oct 2006)

Just because I love making your day George......

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/10/19/tech-ie.html
*Security flaw found in new Internet Explorer web browser*

Just in case have your Flash disabled with IE7 wasn't cheery enough  ;D


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## tlg (19 Oct 2006)

Journeyman said:
			
		

> Just because I love making your day George......
> 
> http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/10/19/tech-ie.html
> *Security flaw found in new Internet Explorer web browser*
> ...



This is a Microsoft product, there is ALWAYS a flaw. I'm not saying firefox is flawless, but it's damned close to it.

GO FIREFOX!!!!


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## Klc (19 Oct 2006)

I strongly sugguest using firefox.

I had to use both to access certain websites before, but there is now an integrated IE6 browser for firefox (Meaning you can set certain pages to be rendered by IE in a firefox window, eliminating the last of the compatability errors for firefox).

Add in tabbed browsing, average page load times 50% faster, and the piles of plugins... And theres really no reason to stick with mircrosoft.


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## sigpig (19 Oct 2006)

Firefox is good but try Opera. Very customizable, small and fast, not as big a target for hackers, built in email, bittorrent, and rss reader. I use it at work and home and love it.


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## tlg (19 Oct 2006)

sigpig said:
			
		

> Firefox is good but try Opera. Very customizable, small and fast, not as big a target for hackers, built in email, bittorrent, and rss reader. I use it at work and home and love it.



I don't use RSS, I like how bitcomet works, and I prefer thunderbird as my email program. That and I don't want to have to "pay" to get the ad free version of opera.


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## sigpig (20 Oct 2006)

tlg said:
			
		

> I don't use RSS, I like how bitcomet works, and I prefer thunderbird as my email program. That and I don't want to have to "pay" to get the ad free version of opera.



Opera has been ad-free for free since version 7, almost a year now I think. I didn't use rss until I tried Opera and I used thunderbird as my email pgm until I tried opera. No, opera's email client is not as feature filled as the standalone tbird, but it does everything I need.

It doesn't hurt to try something new.


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## old medic (20 Oct 2006)

I haven't touched any version of Internet Exploder for quite a long time. I stick with Firefox both on the Windows 
and the linux boxes.


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## sigpig (20 Oct 2006)

I did upgrade to ie7 just to have it for those rare occasions when a page won't render in either opera or firefox. It has to be better than the crap that is ie6 but I haven't really checked it out yet.

Like old medic, I enjoy being able to use opera and firefox in both windows and linux so the experience can be similar in both os's.


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## George Wallace (20 Oct 2006)

Well, my problem with the installation of IE7 is that when I Boot up, I get an Alert: 





> SmartBridge Alerts: MotiveSB.exe - Entry Point Not found
> (X)  The procedure entry point GetProcessImageFileNameW could not be located in the dynamic link library PSAPI.DLL.



All attempts to find a FIX on the MS sites have lead to nothing but frustration and downtime.  They do not as yet have a FIX.  Looking at some of their Chat forums, it has been a problem since May, half a year ago.


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## GUNS (20 Oct 2006)

Damn computers, for us less familiar with them, what I just read , looks like" lkjf iuytbd ,mn ,eurtv sjtyg ". I miss the days when the biggest problem was unhooking the D and F on my typewriter.


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## sigpig (20 Oct 2006)

George, when did you 'upgrade' to ie7? Do you have a system point you can restore to before that point that might clean things up? Then you could try again from a clean system.

I know the process sucks, it worked fine at home the other day (although it took an amazing amount of time) but when I tried it at work it said it had to delete the old ie version, then I had to reboot to install ie7. The installer came up at the start and just kept saying it was installing for about 10-15 minutes and wouldn't allow anything else to start. I finally had to power off the machine and start again. Now I still have ie6 on board.

Until ms gets this mess sorted out please do yourself a favour and try something else. I'm an opera devotee but I know firefox is more popular and in the news so give that a try. At least it won't be ie and your surfing will be much better and safer.


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## George Wallace (20 Oct 2006)

It look like IE7 is nasty and you cannot go beck prior to its' Installation Date to Restore.  I can only go back to 6 Oct and it is now 20 Oct to do a Restore.  The other option would be a complete Reinstall of Windows XP and all Sevice Packs, and you know how much fun that would be.  I think some of the options recommended above are really the answer.  Run one or more of those programs until such a day MS can produce a stable platform........Will any of us live that long?   ;D


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## sigpig (20 Oct 2006)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> Run one or more of those programs until such a day MS can produce a stable platform........Will any of us live that long?   ;D



Not likely. On another note have you ever considered giving linux a try? There are a number of very user friendly, stable and feature filled distros out there these days. You can try most of these on a live cd so you can see what it looks like/how it acts without without having to install it.

Yes, I am a linux fanboy


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## dapaterson (20 Oct 2006)

davidhmd said:
			
		

> open office for life!



Interesting Q:  How many millions does DND piss away every year on MS Office licenses?  Seems to me that in these times of fiscal restraint moving to a free alternative would be preferable: OO is much more customisable, has a pretty easy learning curve if moving from MS Office, has its file formats documented and non-proprietary...

Then again, DND is the same department that bought Office 97, then went out to tender to buy an operating system that would be compatible.  Talk about situating the estimate...


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## couchcommander (20 Oct 2006)

The French government is going to ODF and OO2. 

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/5695/469


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## Mike Bobbitt (20 Oct 2006)

A big part of the money spent on apps like MS Office goes to support. I know many open source tools are starting to provide support as well, but the ability to phone MS and get immediate (if not useful) assistance is a big safety net.


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## dapaterson (20 Oct 2006)

Mike:  MS' support boils down to four main thrusts:

(1) Reboot ; if that doesn't work

(2) Reinstall; if that doesn't work

(3) "It's a feature, not a bug"; if that doesn't work

(4) "It's a known issue - upgrade to the next version to get it fixed".


As a large customer, DND receives little if any additional support.  A few examples?  The dictionary for spell check does not inlcude military terms; pre-defined types for Ranks (including order) don't exist in Excel or Access... I'd think that with tens of thousands of systems MS would provide some additional functionality for their client, but they don't.

The "OSS is unsupported" is a poor argument - very few software suppliers provide a decent level of support.  Besides, if DND could save $300 per PC in licensing fees we could hire our own call centre and still be money ahead.


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## tlg (20 Oct 2006)

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> A big part of the money spent on apps like MS Office goes to support. I know many open source tools are starting to provide support as well, but the ability to phone MS and get immediate (if not useful) assistance is a big safety net.



You can order Support for Open Office cheaper than buying copies of MS office. I can't find the exact cost because OO doesnt list it. You have to call and inquire.


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## Mike Bobbitt (20 Oct 2006)

Don't get me wrong, Army.ca runs on all open source, so I'm not advocating MS.


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## couchcommander (21 Oct 2006)

lol, microsoft and support. The thought is almost comical.  

But re: open source support, its actually a lot more prevalent than you think. The Linux Professional Institute is doing a great job and so far has certified over 100,000 junior linux administrators, and a few thousand senior administrators (which still means we get the big bucks... *cough, cough*... yea I almost choked on that one...). As was pointed out, if you need support beyond this in the realm of specific applications, there are consulting firms willing and able to do it, but as well I should further point out that open source projects do tend to have an involved community willing to help out, as well as a searchable bug database. So you can normally either quickly fix your issue on your own with community assistance, or identify it as a flaw and take steps to minimize the impact of it. Saying that, I am on the monkey make work administration side and don't need to grapple with coding or anything along those lines. 

In the end, the biggest difference that I've found is that you do spend a lot more time reading documentation and learning to administer and troubleshoot the product via your own devices - which can produce issues for a busy yet small IT department who don't have hours to spare training staff. 

oh and dapaterson, you forgot one "The problem lies with third party software, call them"


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## Klc (21 Oct 2006)

Of course, with the savings from office licences, we could afford programmers to rewrite open office as we see fit, and even fix any problems we found.


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## sigpig (21 Oct 2006)

Klc said:
			
		

> Of course, with the savings from office licences, we could afford programmers to rewrite open office as we see fit, and even fix any problems we found.



When I first moved to the US to start a new job I was amazed to find that a few of the people in my new shop - mainframe programming using Natural/Adabas were from the Marines. They had been Natural programmers there. What a great concept, having IT professionals as an integral part of your organization and not having to rely on outside contractors to do anything.


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