Don't people notice

[Shadow Skill]

That their actual page viewing space is shrinking as more and more IE "toolbars" get loaded into IE mysteriously. Why do people just keep surfing with those things slowly eating their "browser?" [IE isn't really a browser its a security breach feature of Windows, and the soon to be Longbreach.] At one point my dad had at least four extra toolbars aside from the one that should be there, I think his page viewing length was at 75% of what it was supposed to be it was ridiculous, how he just continuned to surf as if this was normal. Have any of you noticed this?

[crackers]

Perhaps it's because they're conditioned to ... oh look pretty!

:D

[jcstille]

They think, oh it is only a little bit more to add another toolbar. But things add up. I hate it. Thats why I love the Hijack This! program for Windows. When I clear all those out, people are always like, oh this is soo nice. Ignorance is bliss isn't it/

[Shadow Skill]

Hijack this! what's that?

[blammo]

Actually, I believe those extra toolbars can be disabled just by right clicking in toolbar area and removing the check marks. XP SP2 has also introduced an add on manager for IE where all ActiveX controls installed in the browser can be activated/deactivated on the fly.

[Shadow Skill]

why are they even installed to begin with though?

[Shadow Skill]

On another note why does windows use 53 percent of ram and 84% of the swap space when its not really doing anything at all? What the hell is up with that?

[i686]

Shadow Skill, i'm guessing it wasn't as bad as this though..

http://homepage.mac.com/raruler/.Pictures/SA/internet_explorer.jpg

i686

[Shadow Skill]

Is that just made up, did someone INTENTIONALLY load up that many "toolbars" for the purposes of a very funny Firefox ad? I noticed that each one of the "toolbars" was different as well, it is a very scary thought to think that that browser was not purposely cluttered in order to make a nice ad.

[i686]

I'm guessing the did it intentionally just for the firefox ad..
still funny though.. :)

i686

[blammo]

why are they even installed to begin with though?

Most if not all that get installed are a result of user action! If a dialog box pops up while you're browsing the web and asks you if you want to install and run blah, blah blah,... and you click yes, then you got a new toolbar or ActiveX control. Some are useful like Flash, Realmedia, iPix, etc., and some are garbage like useless search bars and spyware. Some can even be dangerous, aka tojans. The trick is to know what the hell you're clicking "yes" on.

Other toolbars appear from user installed programs. Virus scanning programs, screen capture, image editing, web development, etc. Adobe Acrobat for instance installs a toolbar not only in IE, but in every Microsoft Office program you have on your computer! Some people find these installed applets and toolbars useful and others annoying... and some just don't have a clue.

[mugs]

I think the problem is for those who dont have a clue, as many of these toolbar apps are actually spyware, and are not easy to remove for the average user.

[jcstille]

I think the problem is for those who dont have a clue, as many of these toolbar apps are actually spyware, and are not easy to remove for the average user.


Thats what Hijack This! is for. If you wanna know what it is, just go to google, and type
"Hijack This!" the first result is good.

[Jman]

I don't have many toolbars, but still Mozilla seems to get more page space than IE.

A feature very few people use is full screen browsing. Hit <F11> in either IE or Moz and you will get even more space.

[Varkk]

http://homepage.mac.com/raruler/.Pictures/SA/internet_explorer.jpg

[crackers]

I showed this to the wife and her only comment was "Oh my ghod!" followed by lots of shuddering...

Unfortunately, I'll bet my mom's browser looks like this. I told her a long time ago that if she ever wanted me to help her, she'd have to check with me before she installed anything. I haven't worked on her system in two years. :(

[Shadow Skill]

It's sad that someone's browser probably does look like that unintentionally. I hope whoever did that ad was able to get all of that crap off.

[Saskman]

Love the Add, should be posted in Windows rag. I find that yes an awful lot of them are spyware and some are required to be installed to run a "free" application! NO THANKS I'll stick with crystal clear open source -- Linux the Un-conventional OS, Crisp and Clean and lots of Caffeine

[Varkk]

It's sad that someone's browser probably does look like that unintentionally. I hope whoever did that ad was able to get all of that crap off.

I think that is probably at the point where the only fix is to reformat and try again. Also It was probably done in a virtual machine in VMware, some friends of mine do that sometimes for fun, start up a fresh winXP install in a virtual machine and see who can get the most spyware etc in a week. It is fun, you should try it sometime :D