Risk-averse advisers should consider upgrading to IE7

A recent survey of 400 InvestmentNews readers showed that 92% were using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Unfortunately though, 58% of those 400 are still using Version 6 of Internet Explorer, while 33% have upgraded to Internet Explorer 7.

A recent survey of 400 InvestmentNews readers showed that 92% were using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Unfortunately though, 58% of those 400 are still using Version 6 of Internet Explorer, while 33% have upgraded to Internet Explorer 7.
Almost everyone running the older browser should upgrade. It is free, easy to do, and most important, it is more secure.
“In the past year, there have been several critical vulnerabilities exposed in IE6, such as the ability to load software without the user knowing” said Matt Sarrel, executive director of Sarrel Group, a network and information security consulting firm based in New York.
“IE7 protects users against such drive-by downloads by default and was designed from its inception to improve browser security — a reasonably easy feat since IE6 has been called the least secure browser ever by many analysts” he said.
Arguably the most important security enhancement to IE7 is that ActiveX controls have been disabled by default. In oversimplified terms, these generally useful controls are a mechanism that unscrupulous outside parties learned to exploit in IE6 without a user’s knowledge.
When users of IE7 visit a website that tries to initiate an ActiveX control, they receive a warning in the form of a yellow banner under the address bar. Of course, if you have confidence in the site, you can simply ignore the warning.
In addition, other rarely used features found in IE6 have been removed, which leave fewer potential vulnerabilities for a malicious hacker to exploit.
One security feature new to Explorer that is sure to become popular in the financial community is extended validation secure sockets layer (EV SSL) certificate support. SSL is the leading security protocol on the Internet, and the EV certificate further enhances security by allowing a website to display that it truly is the site the viewer believes it to be.
Until recently, extended-validation certificate technology was available only to the government and corporations.
In addition to security, many ease-of-use improvements make IE7 a worthwhile download and superior to IE6. One of the most obvious is tabbed browsing, which is the ability to open and keep open multiple web pages — aka “tabs” — within a single browser window instead of opening multiple individual windows as was the default setting in IE6.
Moving among tabs is quicker and less demanding of your computer’s system resources.
Those who do a lot of printing from their browser will find big improvements in IE7 as well. The most significant of these is the automatic shrink-to-fit feature.
IE6’s poor print support often results in lots of wasted paper unless a site or individual page has been designed specifically for easy printing.
Another IE7 feature many advisers will like is the built-in really simple syndication reader. Many online publications, including InvestmentNews.com, provide RSS feeds, which send content to subscribers automatically as material is published.
An InvestmentNews reader using IE7 can click on the RSS button in the upper-right-hand corner of the home page to subscribe to one of two feeds. Feeds may be accessed from either the orange RSS button on the main IE7 menu or by clicking on the Favorites Center icon, which is a yellow five-pointed star located on the leftmost part of the main menu bar.
Downloading IE7 is simple. Those signed up to receive Windows updates automatically surely have received past admonitions from Microsoft.
Others can proceed to Microsoft.com and enter Internet Explorer in the search box, which brings up additional information along with a download button and system requirements. All your bookmarks will be imported from IE6 during installation.
To learn more about IE7, try blogs.msdn.com/ie.
And if you haven’t upgraded to IE7, Larry Seltzer, editor of eWeek.com Security Center in New York, understands your hesitancy.
“Every major version bump generates some level of skepticism, but in this case it’s proven unfounded,” he said.
“IE7 is a better, safer browser than IE6. Unless you know there is some application that’s critical to your business and won’t work with it, upgrade,” Mr. Seltzer said.
InvestmentNews technology reporter Davis D. Janowski will write occasional columns alerting advisers to ways they can improve both their access to information and computer-related practice management. He can be reached at [email protected].