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[G-Flex]

Wait, you uninstalled IE?  I didn't think that was possible.

So if you download a new installer (e.g. here), and run it, what happens?

Edit: I have three internet browsers currently installed, none of them hate each other.

If I run that installer, it gives me a dialog box with the words 'Installing required updates...' and a loading bar. It fills up about 1/5th of the way, then stops and just sits there forever.

I removed all of the shortcuts to IE from the desktop, start menu, etc. I can still start it up, but it promptly tells me that the 'page cannot be found' no matter what site I try to go to.

Did you even try to run it (like I said) before attempting to "reinstall" it?

Also, if it's telling you that on every page, you might have a malware problem lingering around. Maybe IE is set to use a proxy connection or something like that.

So yeah, if I can hijack...

My IE6 on my other computer is all effed up right now. It doesn't exit properly when you close it, instead it just sits there frozen until you force it to quit with the "not responding..." box. It only does this some of the time, and I think it might be related to what sites I visit after opening it (that is, certain rare sites don't trigger it). I'm very confident I don't have any malware anymore so I think something just got corrupted at some point or something, I don't know.

Is it even possible to cleanly uninstall and reinstall it to see if it fixes it?

Why not try to upgrade to IE8? IE6 is extremely old, insecure, and featureless at this point. If you use IE6, you're essentially being part of a problem.

[ILikePie]

Whoa, I just opened IE for the first time in two years. It's got like five toolbars in it, toolbars I don't remember installing, its homepage is AVG.com, and it's still loading. Now I remember why I moved over to firefox.

[Vucar Fikodastesh]

Whoa, I just opened IE for the first time in two years. It's got like five toolbars in it, toolbars I don't remember installing, its homepage is AVG.com, and it's still loading. Now I remember why I moved over to firefox.

Because you let shitty free installers add toolbars to it?

While I would consider IE a sub-par browser, and I still won't consider using it as my personal browser, recent versions of IE aren't all that bad. It certainly doesn't live up to all the hate it's getting in this thread.

So yeah, if I can hijack...

Please, if you have the option too, install a newer version of internet explorer. You're hurting more than just yourself by not upgrading.

[qwertyuiopas]

There are a few parts of IE6 that are better than the later ones, and some that are worse. Some people find that the benefits of not upgrading outweigh the problems. Let everyone choose for themselves.

[G-Flex]

qwertyuiopas: IE6 is extremely outdated. It is a security problem. In fact, it's a SEVERE security problem. People who make that choice are harming other people.

[qwertyuiopas]

It's about as much of a security problem as windows XP is overall. You are forgetting that there was an Internet Explorer 5, and before that 4. IE6 still occasionally gets security updates from microsoft. Name one SEVERE security issue about it that cannot be countered by not installing untrusted toolbars.

[ILikePie]

Whoa, I just opened IE for the first time in two years. It's got like five toolbars in it, toolbars I don't remember installing, its homepage is AVG.com, and it's still loading. Now I remember why I moved over to firefox.

Because you let shitty free installers add toolbars to it?

Looks like it, it's got AVG, Daemon tools, and some other stuff. But I hardly even use my Windows machine, so it doesn't really matter.

[G-Flex]

It's about as much of a security problem as windows XP is overall. You are forgetting that there was an Internet Explorer 5, and before that 4. IE6 still occasionally gets security updates from microsoft. Name one SEVERE security issue about it that cannot be countered by not installing untrusted toolbars.

First off, IE6 lacks support for many very standard things, like tabs, PNG transparency, and CSS 2 (and other standards). Also, it's trivial to get IE to crash using simple CSS/HTML. It requires hefty and painful hacks just to support the damn browser on a website.

Also, have fun. And some more fun. There are security issues listed there that cannot be countered by, well, anything.

Also, upgrading from WinXP to Win7 isn't necessarily possible or economically feasible for all people on all machines. There's flat-out no reason not to upgrade from IE6. I can't think of a single thing it actually does better, and a lot of sites are just plain broken and don't even bother supporting it anymore.

I honestly think you should do more research before talking about these things.

[Vucar Fikodastesh]

It's about as much of a security problem as windows XP is overall. You are forgetting that there was an Internet Explorer 5, and before that 4. IE6 still occasionally gets security updates from microsoft. Name one SEVERE security issue about it that cannot be countered by not installing untrusted toolbars.

I've seen this argument before, and I'm certainly not going to try to start it again, especially in the thread of an innocent bystander. I have to admit, though, that I thought you would have moved on to another browser by now, and I am honestly curious when that is going to happen.

I'm not trying to troll you, I am just honestly interested in hearing what it is that you think Internet Explorer 6 has that every other modern browser lacks, and what it would take for you to upgrade.

[qwertyuiopas]

have fun.

Did you actually read that? Cutting out the excess, it can be summarized with: "many flaws were removed in SP2, while others have appeared in other browsers" and "see here". Oh, and continued support for XP SP3's IE6 until 2014. The linked site shows that they have corrected many of the issues and that many of them affect later versions of IE, too.

I'm only arguing that a person should be able to choose the version of Internet Explorer that they use for daily browsing, not that everyone must use what they consider an inferior product. Oh, and that just because it's "common knowledge" that IE6 is full of exploits doesn't nessecarily make it true. Otherwise, the world would have been flat, hundreds of years ago, and gods would exist for every major religion.

[G-Flex]

have fun.

Did you actually read that? Cutting out the excess, it can be summarized with: "many flaws were removed in SP2, while others have appeared in other browsers"

That statement only refers to the Art Manion quote, not the rest of the section. Don't accuse me of not reading and then fail to comprehend it yourself.

Also, SP2 was in what, 2004? Yet in 2006:

As of June 23, 2006, Secunia counted 20 unpatched security flaws for Internet Explorer 6, many more and older than for any other browser, even in each individual criticality-level, although some of these flaws only affect Internet Explorer when running on certain versions of Windows or when running in conjunction with certain other applications.

There were other, serious vulnerabilities listed in my links that have not been patched and probably are not capable of being patched short of upgrading your browser.

Oh, and that just because it's "common knowledge" that IE6 is full of exploits doesn't nessecarily make it true.

You're right. Extremely cursory research does. Even Microsoft admits it.

See: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/01/microsoft-wants-you-to-ditch-windows-xp-and-ie6-for-security.ars
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20004987-264.html

[DeKaFu]

The only feature I really find lacking with IE6 is the inability to get any tech support for it because everyone is much more interested in criticizing your browser choice than offering useful advice.

Well, that and the png transparency thing.

I already have Opera for when I'm visiting risky or broken sites. Right now my goal is to upgrade my IE6 into IE6-that-works-properly.

[G-Flex]

There is no IE6-that-works-properly. It doesn't support modern web standards, and the fact that people use it is a pain in basically everyone's ass, because supporting its users means writing websites chock full of IE6-specific code just so it'll work. Even Google has recently dropped supporting it.

There is no reason for people to give you tech support for IE6 because the fact that you use IE6 is the problem. Supporting that is what's known as "enabling behavior".

[qwertyuiopas]

However, there is a vast difference between not supporting IE6 and actively fighting against it. I think that it would be best if everyone stoped caring about it ald let it break if their site breaks it, but didn't go out of their way to do so.

Do sites bother with netscape navigator compatibility? I doubt it, and nobody argues about it either, even though there probably are one or two people still using it.

Let your sites break in IE6, and at most leave a note that it was designed for newer browsers, so may not look right on outdated software. Give that same generic note along with the rest of the page to everyone not using the latest browsers, and then you don't have to worry about backwards compatibility.

[G-Flex]

However, there is a vast difference between not supporting IE6 and actively fighting against it.

Security experts fight against it. So does Microsoft itself.

Do sites bother with netscape navigator compatibility? I doubt it, and nobody argues about it either, even though there probably are one or two people still using it.

Let your sites break in IE6, and at most leave a note that it was designed for newer browsers, so may not look right on outdated software. Give that same generic note along with the rest of the page to everyone not using the latest browsers, and then you don't have to worry about backwards compatibility.

Too many people use IE6; that's the problem. Companies even still have IE6 on their computers are policy sometimes. It's easy to say "just don't support it", but that can screw you over when a significant amount of people and organizations still cling to it. Even in September of this year, more people use IE6 than Safari.


Also, that doesn't address the security concerns, or the fact that there's no good reason to still use the thing except inertia. It's not hard to learn how to use a new browser, and IE6 is slow, doesn't have tabs, doesn't support several web standards/technologies, doesn't render sites correctly, can be crashed with a single copypasted line of HTML/CSS, and lacks modern security features.