I’m still getting variations on questions related to performing Microsoft/Windows updates, so perhaps it’s time for a brief refresher.
If, in any Microsoft operating system, you follow the sequence
Start –> Programs –> Microsoft Update
you will end up staring at the Microsoft browser which of course is Internet Explorer.
Abandon Internet Explorer!
It is my strongest and oft repeated recommendation that for many reasons you should abandon Internet Explorer in favour of Firefox. Firefox is not only a far better and more usable browser, it is also much safer. Or, use Google Chrome if you like, but it’s a bit spartan for my tastes. The main thing is to get away from Internet Explorer as your default browser.
Unfortunately in its raw state Firefox cannot process updates for you from update.microsoft.com or windowsupdate.com, or any variation that accesses the Microsoft/Windows update website.
Without getting into a lot of unnecessary detail, the reason is that the Microsoft update websites require an ActiveX control (follow that link if you want more info), and Firefox doesn’t “do” ActiveX — which is one of the reasons it’s much safer than Internet Explorer. ActiveX is a security nightmare.
Now many people are still under the impression that, while they prefer to use Firefox as their day-to-day browser, they have to switch to Internet Explorer to perform their Microsoft/Windows updates.
That hasn’t been the case for quite some time, and here’s how to make it not apply to you either. What we need to do is…
Fool the MS Update Websites
- If you don’t already have it installed and configured as your default browser, download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com and install it. If you are already using Firefox make sure you are using the latest version. Very often new versions are released for valid security security reasons, not just to present a new feature or two.
- Locate the Firefox plug-in “IE Tab Plus” at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10909/ and install it.
- In Firefox, go to: Tools –> IE Tab Plus Options.
- Select the Site Filter tab and ensure that the following entries are present. From memory I think they are there by default, but if not it’s easy enough to add them:
/^http:\/\/[A-Za-z0-9]+\//
http://*update.microsoft.com/*
http://www.windowsupdate.com/*
- Click OK to close the options dialog.
So What’s All That Mean?
What it means is that from now on, whenever you point Firefox to update.microsoft.com or windowsupdate.com, Firefox will load the Internet Explorer Rendering Engine to display those sites, and everything should work just fine.
But You CANNOT Ignore Internet Explorer!
Please please please be aware that Firefox add-ons such as IE Tab Plus aren’t the only software that call upon some part of Internet Explorer code, so it is vitally important that you keep Internet Explorer up to date even if you’re not using it as your day-to-day browser.
Need more explanation? Want to offer a viewpoint? Please use the Comment Box below.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Bill,
You’ve just answered why not use FireFox, another piece of software to manage and maintain. and still keep IE maintained with all updates!!
‘Please please please be aware that Firefox add-ons such as IE Tab Plus aren’t the only software that call upon some part of Internet Explorer code, so it is vitally important that you keep Internet Explorer up to date even if you’re not using it as your day-to-day browser.’
Regards
Bill
Bill, feel free to use any browser you wish — there are literally dozens to choose from.
However, this blog is primarily about security and helping readers to stay safe online. Did you miss the bit where I said “ActiveX is a security nightmare”. That is an indisputable fact.
It’s unfortunate that we can’t just eliminate Internet Explorer completely when we don’t wish to use it as a primary browser, but that’s just the way things are. We can only do the best we can within the constraints we have to work with.
However, even leaving security out of the equation, any Firefox user who has ever taken the trouble to investigate the wide range of very useful plug-ins available for it will know that it also has significant productivity benefits over IE. In fact, in the productivity and usability stakes, it is far superior to any browser of which I’m aware.
You will need to update Firefox FAR less frequently than you will IE. And so long as you’re running your updates regularly, as *EVERY* computer user should be doing, Internet Explorer will be updated automatically along with any other patches published by Microsoft. There’s really no extra effort involved.
Where you do need to put in some extra effort is keeping all the other non-Microsoft stuff appropriately patched and updated. For example, almost everybody has some Adobe software on their computer, and that company has figured in a number of security alerts of late. But they are by no means alone in that respect.
In the final analysis Bill, you either put in the time or you suffer the consequences. Firefox is one way to minimize your exposure AND gain in features & benefits at the same time.
Bill,
I have had to go back to using Internet Explorer, albeit reluctantly.
I had Firefox running for quite a while, then suddenly it started to crash, getting more and more frequent until it happened every time I used it. I have tried everything, deleting it and reloading it, several times, but still it crashed and I could not and cannot see, for the life of my, why.
But IE8 does work – have the Evil Empire discovered some way to make you use it?
Hi Andrew.
Firstly, forgive me for possibly stating the obvious, but I hope by “deleting it” you meant “uninstalling it” via Control Panel.
Next, with many programs, “uninstalling” is not the same as “removing all traces of”.
Very often settings will remain in the system, especially in the Windows Registry, that will be picked up by subsequent installation attempts. In cases where this is likely to happen software publishers will sometimes provide (often on request only) a special program to do a complete clean-out of their application.
To the best of my knowledge Mozilla/Firefox doesn’t have such a complete-uninstaller, but there are plenty of references around on how to do it manually.
The easiest is probably this page on the Mozilla website:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Uninstalling+Firefox
Try following those instructions first, but it doesn’t go into manually removing Firefox traces from the Registry.
If it turns out that you need to dig deeper, this article at Tweak Guides has been reported to be reliable:
http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_3.html
If you want to investigate further a Google search with the following terms will provide plenty of results.
Google Search Term: completely remove Firefox
Please come back and let us know what works you.
Thanks Bill, and you were quite right, I did mean uninstall, just grabbed the wrong word!
I will have a go at what you suggest and see if I can get Firefox to work again.