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Beware of MS Internet Explorer Plug-Ins |
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Contributed by Alojate
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 Intelligent Explorer? Beware of MS Internet
Explorer Plug-Ins By alojate. Recently, I upgraded my copy of
Internet Explorer. No big deal, right? Well, I thought it was an
upgrade. In actuality it turned out to be a product
masking as an upgrade called Intelligent Explorer and when it
downloaded to my machine, it started a nighmarish journey that taught
me a wealth about what one wrong click can unleash on your computer.
I did some quick research via Google and found messages screaming for
help in the BullGuard and Spywareinfo forum from people trying to get
it off their machine.
In this article, I am going to use Internet Explorer to point out the
Internet Explorer plugin nightmare and what you'll need to do to
protect yourself.
Intelligent Explorer is a toolbar that moves in and takes over your
browser. It is extremely hard to get rid of, and beyond that, it's just
plain annoying. Here's is just one sample of a person calling for help:
"Hey I'm having issues with something called Internet explorer toolbar
- Intelligent explorer. I can't find a way to remove it from my comp
and I really don't want to reinstall windows. I've used spybot,
ad-ware, and cw shredder but nothing seems to work."
What makes Intelligent Explorer so destructive is that it allows other
software add-ons to download to you computer. And, even more insulting
to your intelligence is that in their license agreement it states that
they have the right to do it.
"You grant to us the right, exercisable by us until you uninstall the
Software or this agreement is otherwise terminated, to provide to you
the Service of downloading and causing to be displayed advertising
material on your computer, through "pop-up" or other display while you
use your browser.
You acknowledge and agree that installation of the Software may
automatically modify toolbars and other settings of your browser. By
installing the Software, you agree to such modifications."
You can go to ieplugin.com/terms.html to read the entire license
agreement.
The company that pushes this parasitic software is an obfuscated firm
incorporated in the tiny country of Belize outside of most
jurisdictions and immune from legal actions.
The pop-ups generated by this plugin run the gamut from annoying to
pornographic. It can create a new homepage, generate an endless loop of
popup ads, reappear after removal and cause endless hours of
frustration.
Thank God for XoftSpy located at xoftspy.com. After two scans, it
finally got rid of it, and it only cost me $40. Freeware is available,
but at the level of frustration I was at, I went for a guaranteed
product.
At least, if it didn't work, I could return it and get my money back.
Other good eliminators include Spyware Eliminator, Spyware COP and
Spybot Search and Destroy.
I have subsequently switched browsers, recognizing that Internet
Explorer just has too many holes in its current security.
Mozilla Firefox has become my browser of choice. It comes with superior
security features and it's much easier to get rid of plug-ins that
prove harassing. I have only gone over one plug-in problem I
encountered when using IE.
XoftSpy took care of others as well, but I got a much better browser
and fewer problems when I made the switch to Mozilla Firefox.
Article Source: http://www.articopia.com
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Author Profile: alojate
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