Computer problem= Help Requested.

[Mathguy]

Does anyone know what is going on with Microsoft Explorer not being supported on many websites in the near future ?

[HalfSmokes]

It’s a terrible outdated browser- with edge, even Microsoft is giving up on it

[Mathguy]

Thx - I've picked up on the out of date.  But what are other browsers doing that make the difference ?

It’s a terrible outdated browser- with edge, even Microsoft is giving up on it

[dracnal]

Thx - I've picked up on the out of date.  But what are other browsers doing that make the difference ?

Getting security updates. IE 11 is no longer able to use the more secure protocols that are becoming the standard. I'd recommend Firefox generally. A lot of people like Chrome, but i find it has a really bad habit of eating a lot of idle resources in order to maintain its claim that it loads pages faster. Speculatively loading every link will indeed make it faster, but it means you can end up with 16 instances of Chrome running while looking at one page. Still, it's far more reliable and useful than Edge.

[Mathguy]

One thing I like about Microsoft Explorer is in Control Panel, under Internet Options one can setup multiple tabs so when the Internet opens, one starts off at multiple websites.  Is there a way to do that in Edge, Chrome, or Firefox ?

[dracnal]

One thing I like about Microsoft Explorer is in Control Panel, under Internet Options one can setup multiple tabs so when the Internet opens, one starts off at multiple websites.  Is there a way to do that in Edge, Chrome, or Firefox ?

Yep - in Firefox, click the three horizontal bar icon in the top right, click settings. In the new menu, click on 'Home' on the leftside navigation menu and set 'Homepage and new windows' to Custom URLs.

In Chrome, click the three dots icon in the top right, click settings, and scroll down to the 'On Startup' section. In the bottom of that section you can set the pages to open at start up.

With Edge, I actually don't know because it's really not that great a browser in my opinion. The only time I'll use it is if I'm trying something on a Microsoft site that isn't working in another browser (setting up training for coworkers, getting licenses for software, etc.). If you really want to give it a shot, a google search for 'load custom URLs edge launch,' will probably get you the info.

[imref]

For those of you running Windows, be sure to install the patches that came out today ASAP.  This is for all versions of Windows.  Microsoft fixed a critical vulnerability that allows hackers to forge digital signatures (meaning that apps/files would appear as safe even though they could contain malware).

Here's the background:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/14/microsoft-to-patch-windows-10-after-nsa-finds-vulnerability.html

Also, Microsoft has ended support for Win7

[Slateman]

Also, Microsoft has ended support for Win7

How the freak am I supposed to play MVP 05 then?

[dracnal]

How the freak am I supposed to play MVP 05 then?

Doesn't mean Win 7 won't work. It just means they won't patch any new security holes found unless they are -incredibly- dangerous.

[bluestreak]

I saw a computer running XP a few weeks ago. 

[imref]

I saw a computer running XP a few weeks ago. 

there are a lot of computers still running XP.  And around 30-40% of Windows computers are still running 7 last time I checked.

[HalfSmokes]

there are a ton of ATMs still running XP

[dracnal]

there are a ton of ATMs still running XP

Hell, I had to deal with a Win 98 machine about six months ago. In production use at an office. Some people -really- don't want to update their custom databases.

[Natsinpwc]

The FAA air traffic control system used vacuum tube technology up until the late 1990s.  If it's not broke don't fix it.

[bluestreak]

The FAA air traffic control system used vacuum tube technology up until the late 1990s.  If it's not broke don't fix it.

Every hospital I’ve ever worked at has used vacuum tubes to transport specimens. Currently.

[Slateman]

Every hospital I’ve ever worked at has used vacuum tubes to transport specimens. Currently.

That's not the same thing . . .

The National Archives still has microfilm readers and old record players. Also, they still haven't figured out exactly how they want to receiver electronic documents for storage, so you have to print off and ascend everything on paper. Everything.

[DCFan]

https://nypost.com/2020/01/28/popular-antivirus-tracked-users-pictures-browsing-habits-report/

[imref]

https://nypost.com/2020/01/28/popular-antivirus-tracked-users-pictures-browsing-habits-report/

yeah, 'free' app gathers data and sells it.  I'm not sure why this would surprise anyone.

[Mathguy]

Is anyone familar with the internet browser called BRAVE ?

[varoadking]

I'm getting this sort of message on my desktop when visiting a number of sites:

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access the requested URL on this server.
Reference: 18.1ec64c68.1600092216.2571aa80

The websites are seemingly unrelated...Macy's, Tire Rack, etc.

Any thoughts?

TIA

[DCFan]

I'm getting this sort of message on my desktop when visiting a number of sites:

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access the requested URL on this server.
Reference: 18.1ec64c68.1600092216.2571aa80

The websites are seemingly unrelated...Macy's, Tire Rack, etc.

Any thoughts?

TIA

Further down in that warning message should be a link that you can click on to get into your website with a warning that it's not safe to do so and you're risking all kinds of mayhem. I do it anyway.

[dracnal]

I'm getting this sort of message on my desktop when visiting a number of sites:

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access the requested URL on this server.
Reference: 18.1ec64c68.1600092216.2571aa80

The websites are seemingly unrelated...Macy's, Tire Rack, etc.

Any thoughts?

TIA

There are two likely causes. First, your browser may be out of date/no longer able to use modern encryption methods. Easiest way to test this is to use a different browser (Chrome, Firefox). Download links are:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
https://www.google.com/chrome/

The other possibility is you have a redirect trojan on your machine that's trying to send you to an intermediate server before sending you on to your destination. Essentially, it sits in the middle and reads your username, password, any credit cards you might happen to enter, etc, before passing it along to the server you actually want to go to.

I would really suspect the problem is the first one and that if you look, sites that are 'http://' work fine while sites that are 'https://' give you errors and complain. Depending on how old your computer is and what version of operating system it has, there's a chance you just can't upgrade Microsoft's browser to a new enough version and those links up above will be your long term solution instead of 'buy a new computer.'

I'll be checking in periodically today and there are plenty of others with computer knowledge to answer questions/help if I don't get to you first. DCFan's suggestion technically works but avoids the root of the problem. I'm hoping he meant it as a joke answer.

[Mathguy]

But if Dracnal is right about the 2nd cause of the error, it would be a good idea to run malware software first to see if you can get rid of any possible trojan

There are two likely causes. First, your browser may be out of date/no longer able to use modern encryption methods. Easiest way to test this is to use a different browser (Chrome, Firefox). Download links are:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
https://www.google.com/chrome/

The other possibility is you have a redirect trojan on your machine that's trying to send you to an intermediate server before sending you on to your destination. Essentially, it sits in the middle and reads your username, password, any credit cards you might happen to enter, etc, before passing it along to the server you actually want to go to.

I would really suspect the problem is the first one and that if you look, sites that are 'http://' work fine while sites that are 'https://' give you errors and complain. Depending on how old your computer is and what version of operating system it has, there's a chance you just can't upgrade Microsoft's browser to a new enough version and those links up above will be your long term solution instead of 'buy a new computer.'

I'll be checking in periodically today and there are plenty of others with computer knowledge to answer questions/help if I don't get to you first. DCFan's suggestion technically works but avoids the root of the problem. I'm hoping he meant it as a joke answer.

[DCFan]

There are two likely causes. First, your browser may be out of date/no longer able to use modern encryption methods.

I was thinking it was that security certificate warning. Hadn't considered a virus.

[dracnal]

I was thinking it was that security certificate warning. Hadn't considered a virus.

It's definitely a cert warning - just a question of whether your computer can't read it, or if it's getting the wrong one. But I'm very close to certain that it's the browser in both your cases. MG is correct that you want to scan, but if the machine is infected, just clicking on a link to cleanup software often doesn't work the way you'd expect as it sends you somewhere else and dumps even more junk on your machine. I know a few tools that aren't redirected very often because they're not big name software, but I am waiting to hear if the browser change fixes things rather than post something that's helpful today, but may be a problem if someone digs through this thread in six months looking to fix an issue.