Microsoft issues patch for latest IE vulnerability

Microsoft is acting to address concerns regarding the vulnerability that has been widely reported on since it was revealed last week. According to BetaNews there still haven't been any reported incidents involving the exploit. Even though the vulnerability's existence has yet to be confirmed, Microsoft has responded quickly and has prepared a patch for release today at 10:00am PST. There are also webcasts scheduled for December 17th and 18th to answer customer concerns regarding the out-of-band update.
For more information about the specifics of the vulnerability, read Microsoft's December 12th TechNet post. The post also details five different workarounds (which should be unnecessary once the patch is released). It's likely that Microsoft will also update the original security advisory with a link to the patch once it has been made available.

Update: downloads are available here - choose the link that matches your Windows OS.
[ via BetaNews ] 

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Internet Explorer

Fixing the IE7 'Run Once' Problem

Go to Start > Run > and type "gpedit.msc", press enter.
"User Configuration" - > "Administrative Templates" - > "Internet Explorer->"Prevent performance of First Run Customize settings".

Open that option and change the settings to "Enabled" -> "Go Directly to your homepage".

Group Policy Editor might not have any effect on the computers that has disabled it. You can use this registry hack to disable the runonce annoyance.

Start regedit.exe from Start --> Run and find the key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Change the "RunOnceHasShown" on the right to: 1

can't change the default page of IE ?

Its really annoying but most of the IE toolbars (including Yahoo, Google, and ofcourse MSN) change the IE default page to their page and disable any changes to that. I call this ridiculous and anti-marketing for their product. I hated this as much as you do. Funny thing is that IE spits Javascript errors in MSN homepage itself.
So, if you want to remove this restriction do the following :

- Click start and Run ' regedit'
- In Registry Editor, locate the following subkey, if it exists:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel
- if the ResetWebSettings value or the HomePage value exists in this key, right-click the
values, and then click Delete.
- Restart IE and you will be able to change the default page.

Read this article for further details.