I removed IE from the desktop, taskbar, Start Menu, and even hid the icon in Windows Explorer. I then installed Firefox and Chrome and renamed them both “Internet.” But yet somehow my mother-in-law still found a way to use Internet Explorer and wonders why her computer runs like poo. Oh, and she wants to keep all of the toolbars. She uses them.
by
Matt Burns
on
October 9, 2009
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I guess you can really lock IE out this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/332003
It’s IE – Idiot’s Explorer.
Oh shit…
Windows+Run, +iexplore thats all. you delete anything, this method words.
lol. @Matt refer to this article about FF, Chrome and IE….its a nice one.
http://www.pluggd.in/chrome-faster-than-firefox-297/
Luckily my mother in law doesn’t use the internet. LOL
LOL at toolbars, reminds me of people who have weather, cpu usage and clock gadgets on their screen…
anything and everything windows is a weed…. try and try all you can, it’ll still find a way to crop up… or maybe your mother-in-law just really hates you haha
shut up…. spammer..
The real question is why the hell didn’t you atleast update IE to IE 8. I mean, leaving IE 6 probably counts as “cruel and unusual punishment” nowadays.
No kidding! This is more like “this is what happens when my mother in law trusts me with her computer”.
How much porn does she have on it?
he didnt update it because he’s a computer elitist. He thinks firefox and chrome are the best even though its been proven IE8 is on par with firefox and destroys chrome in everything including web standards and security.
IE, are you kidding me? safari is better than IE and that is saying something.
How about some proof to back up the anti MS bandwagon BS. U r all pussies.
the only test that has proven IE8 to be on par with firefox is a test done by microsoft. all others agree that IE8 fails to be on par with firefox in everything.
Wait a minute … are you actually trying to suggest that IE8 follows web standards more then chrome and/or Firefox ?! Are you fucking kidding me ?!
I just ran ACID3 with IE8 and it scores a whopping 20 out of 100. Every other browser scores over 90 or 100. Hell Chromium on Mac isn’t even a stable release yet and it scores 100.
Go research the benchmarks in Javascript speed on IE8 vs all other browsers. Chrome knocks the shit out of it.
You really have no idea what you are talking about ..
@Techcrunch: shills = spammers, come on, delete this crap.
And I just self-owned myself by replying to the wrong comment… it was addressed to poster “lol”.
are you a microsoft drone or just totally clueless?
Don’t feed the troll (it knows not what it speaks).
IE 8 destroys…what? Are you serious?
That’s like claiming my copy of AOL (it’s on here, somewhere) blows the entire Internet away (it probably does – but not in the way AOL intended)…4 realz.
Lol my girlfriend was telling me about how she likes AOL and is used to it and stuff. I was like “Are you kidding me, I used AOL in the 90s!”
After about of year of having all of my friends make fun of her she finally ditched AOL and went to IE *facepalm*. But I guess it is baby steps…IE 8 is still a lot better than AOL by a longshot.
It will just take her a long time of making fun of her until she actually cracks and starts using FF or Chrome.
That’s a good point – perhaps if he’d asked his mother-in-law which browser she preferred he’d have saved a bit of time by installing IE8 on her PC and not tried to foist FF or Chrome on her.
The fail here is Matt’s not his mother-in-law’s for being arrogant enough to assume he knows what she wanted without asking her.
And as for all of you going on about ‘web standards and ACID’, do you know how many people outside the geek community care? Absolutely nobody.
When commercial organisations are designing web portals – and no, I’m not talking about jazzy start ups, I’m talking about companies that have a history of, you know, actually making money – the first thing they ask is “will it work on IE” because 7 out of 10 of their customers use it.
That may, of course, change but that’s the reality of things just now. Deal with it and stop trying to push your own agenda on people who don’t give a shit.
@Mark A says “And as for all of you going on about ‘web standards and ACID’, do you know how many people outside the geek community care? Absolutely nobody.”
I agree – no one cares. As a web designer, I bump into the issue of web standards all the time. For my clients, I try to equate web standards with electrical, plumbing, and building codes. Most of the time, they’re “invisible” and no one give a hoot. But when the standards are *not* followed, and pipes burst, wires short-circuit, or houses start to fall apart all of a sudden the standards become important.
With web sites, following standards (from both the web coding and browser rendering perspectives) is akin to simply following professional “best practices”. It’s the right thing to do, because we (coders and browser makers) help protect users from current know, and future unknown, threats.
So I could argue that “no one outside the construction industry cares about building codes” but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored.
Thats what we call “epic fail” lol
That looks like my mother’s PC, except my Maw’s screen resolution (640×480) leaves only two or three inches of viewable window after the toolbars.
Are you my long lost brother? it seems as if we have the same Mom!
+1 lol
Why do you think that using IE will make her computer run like poo? Does IE have some mystical power to slow down the computer even after the process has exited? Spooky!
No, its probably all the spyware/malware that came with the toolbars. lol
No, Matt Burns just says stupid things like that because he thinks it’s k00l to criticize IE6.
In other news… She’s a Republican, right?
WAAM gave her away LOL.
In other news, she is an administer with the FBI.
Did you remember to change the default browser? If not, that’s probably how she found it.
I hate toolbars and (most of) the people who make them. A lot seem to sneak in unless you’re very careful. I especially hate sponsor ones that try to get installed during the install process for the thing they sponsor.
Totally this. Java recently started doing this with the Bing toolbar on one of their updates several months back. I’m constantly finding (and removing) the Bing toolbar on employees laptops now because of this.
It irks me that a company like Java sneaks something like that in.
“A company like Java”… LOL! :) That’s why I believe C++ is a much better company!
Ha ha! :P
i don’t know about C++ I think they have been going downhill ever since they spun off C#. Now the guys over at Flash, they know what they are doing!
I think Sun being referred to their stock symbol on the NYSE is accurate.
I beg to differ
Firefox is my default browser since v0.9 and it’s driven me to IE8 lately.
It’s crashing. Sucking up a gig of ram and not giving it back when I close nearly all the tabs. It lags when I have with 5-6 youtube tabs with paused video in them… takes 3-5 seconds or more to switch tabs … come on.
Firefox has long jumped the shark. They were supposed to be lean and basic, the antithesis to the bloatware IE, which Firefox has now become
It’s not her IE that sucks its those stupid toolbars, but I’ve found no matter how much you tell them to stop using them they’ll still do it because that’s how they’re used to doing things
How many add-ons do you have installed?
You touched the right point. Firefox with too many add-ons will be as crap as IE with too many toolbars.
Why didn’t he update IE6 to IE8 and made sure all latest updates were applied?
Why didn’t he change the default browser?
Why didn’t he explain to his mother-in-law that installing those add-ons may lead to some malware being installed if things are not screened correctly?
It seems more of a case of just ranting but not doing anything to actually fix the problem, not educating the users.
Why didn’t you laugh at the picture?
Why didn’t you install a sense of humor toolbar?
Why do you assume that “explaining” technology to older women means jack? In my experience, it doesn’t!
Why do moms click on every banner ad even after you’ve told them not to?
Why do overzealous nerds come to this site?
sounds like you need a new computer, a fresh windows re-install, or just narrow down your add-on collection to 25 or less.
if those aren’t the problem, then IE won’t help you, try chrome or opera.
Opera? No, beware of the widgets.
Try Chrome. :P
Thanks goodness my mother in law does not even have a computer or it would look like that probably as well.
Follow MS instructions to remove IE http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700
I love those guys and girl when they tell me that they use all of toolbars …
I’ve seen IE browsers with every toolbar known to mankind displayed in their browser window. That has to impact performance and usability. I prefer zero tool bars in my browser window; A nice clean interface. If I need to search for anything, I open my home site which is Google, or at work it’s Bing.
Why is your home page Bing at work?
He is Ballmer’s Personal Assistant.
I got tired of having to constantly fix my parents PC despite several attempts at educating them on safe browsing practices. So this last time I just installed Ubuntu then themed it to look like XP (http://bit.ly/1UoVW) and I haven’t had to touch that PC in over six months.
Just delete the IE using the instructions from microsoft, add a new shorcut for Mozilla/Chrome/Opera/Whatever in your dekstop and name it “Internet Explorer 9″ (I know it doesn’t exists, but they don’t) and use the IE icon for it… it works, trust me :)
So many people think that IE is the internet.
Well, Internet Explorer does have the word “internet” in it.
My parents still refer to Firefox as “HotFox” and think it’s Yahoo (because whenever it opens, yahoo appears).
They use “HotFox” to access their email, and “Internet Explorer” to access the internet:P
Maybe all those cool web 2.0 folk would get “older generations” by simply naming things less weirdly. Chrome? Firefox? Safari? My parents are like “WTFOMGBBQ” when I try to explain that “yes, in the computer world, going on a Safari is the same thing as a Burning Fox. Also these are the same thing as this Chrome Metal thing.”
Very funny :-)
I think the way in which she still accesses IE is by opening up My Computer and then typing a web url in the address bar.
Oh, and, she uses all 5 search boxes? Wow.
ie is best
On my Sony laptop my experience contradicts this assessment. When I was using IE 8, it took inordinate amounts of time to load web pages, and it persistently crashed Windows Explorer. Since switching to Firefox 3.6 Windows Explorer has not crashed and the web has opened up to me in ways I never dreamed were possible.
I recommend using Xp-lite.
something about having the word “poo” on the homepage of techcrunch bothers me. how about “crap” or something else? Also, whatever. IE is a good browser. just not the one she’s running.
also…my guess is you left IE as the default browser.
Just have a look at this research at http://www.bcppa.com.pk, then you willl surely say that IE sucks.
Your mother-in-law uses Daemon Tools? ;)
i believe you’re missing the obvious here: your mother-in-law hates you. real original
My mom is so computer illiterate that she thinks she has to be ONLINE to open her My Pictures folder, and that her G-mail is ON her computer. So backwards LOL! She told me the other day that her Picasa pictures folder is “online” (it’s a folder in her My Documents folder. (Face Palm) Even though I’ve tried to explain things, she is still amazed every time I am able to check my G-mail from her computer LMAO!
ps. I only use anything but Mozilla Firefox. It makes Twitter even better (w/ the @PowerTwitter add-on)
Do you all remember the skinnable easy to use NeoPlanet browser? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeoPlanet
(better stop, showing my age LOL)
Best laugh all week thanks.
Most of those tool bars seem to be searches or simple links.
If she really wants them (and I assume she’s using them as bookmarks) you could put them in a simple html page and put that as her home page.
That way it’s easy to open them, and she can use Firefox or Chrome instead.
My mom does that all the time to, I keep uninstalling and she keeps installing them. FML, lol.
Why did you installed Firefox AND Chrome?
Your mother-in-lay uses Deamon tools?!
But very funny to see you also installed other browsers and name them ‘internet’. I went as far as to rename it ‘Internet Explorer’ and change the icon…
Haha, my mom does the same thing and them opens the bookmarks column on the left, so her usable screen is teeny-tiny. Glad she’s not alone!
worse all major IT companies Infosys,Wipro still use IE6 for their employees!
We are the tools of our tools. Until we’re able and willing to learn new methods. It’s a matter of intelligence and social darwinism.
Dude, the least you could do is upgrade her to IE8, then hide the shit out of that one.
I don’t know why Microsoft hasn’t improved the performance of IE as every other browser available is quicker and has better features.
So she uses Daemon Tools?
And a screen recorder.
funniest post in a long time…. :)
Moms are notoriously hard to pull away from their favorite browser. I go through this fairly often, usually with adult children who tell me that they can’t get Mom off the AOL client (apparently it’s like crack for older people) . No amount of cajoling, scare tactics, etc, will do the trick. If I can get Mom (or get adult child to get Mom) to switch over to IE, that’s considered an improvement – unfortunately.
a lot of people are using IE because they have been using it for too long
1) Uninstall or Upgrade IE
2) Why is your Mother In Law an Admin.? Set her as a standard user
3) Install and set sandboxie
4) Set Chrome as the Default Browser (since it does not have an toolbars that I know of), name it “Internet”
5) Kindly avoid going over your in-laws at all cost. Are you nuts or something?
That completes our 6 step program to gaining your freedom. You may now proceed access your living room.
My mom uses Firefox on her Ubuntu netbook. She’s cool.
I beg to differ
Firefox is my default browser since v0.9 and it’s driven me to IE8 lately.
It’s crashing. Sucking up a gig of ram and not giving it back when I close nearly all the tabs. It lags when I have with 5-6 youtube tabs with paused video in them… takes 3-5 seconds or more to switch tabs … come on.
Firefox has long jumped the shark. They were supposed to be lean and basic, the antithesis to the bloatware IE, which Firefox has now become
It’s not her IE that sucks its those stupid toolbars, but I’ve found no matter how much you tell them to stop using them they’ll still do it because that’s how they’re used to doing things
reply ..SFlTV
Agreed, IE8 is very stable and secure browser, possibly the most secure out there. This constant elitist BS that safari is better or Firefox is light and fast is just that..BS.
Chrome is.. right now a very basic browser which makes it light but…not any safer than IE.
There was a time when I recommended Firefox over IE6 because it was small and fast and actually safer to use, that is no longer the case.
IE8 is secure, fast and uses less memory than Firefox and is safer than chrome and safari.
I’ve suggested to some people at Microsoft that its time to run full page ads in all the national papers to educate
PC users on the pros and cons of all the major browsers and why IE8 is their overall best choice.
I hope they do something along these lines.
What is this?
IE is safer than Chrome & FFox?.
That is why i don’t find a single existing threat for a backdoor through them ,which was there for more than subversion release time span.
What about IE’s ? .
m$shit’s releasing patches after patches for this continous troublesome $ht.
Also why r u telling that firefox is bloatware?. you have controls over the addons more than the Activex’s used by IE. You dont have to be a nerd to understand that.
And i understand “why microsoft believes” that IE8 is best.
It IS A BROWSER BUILT BY THEM for gods SAKE!.
damn it.
try designing a webpage for IE. you will know where the standards are broken and where it isn’t.
FF-Chrome-Safari all are good with accepting standards and you are talking about IE ,which has been creating proprietary standards ever since it was first created?.
Anyone wondered about why ‘they still remains’ propreitary?…. coz those standards where bull$hit. like M$.
If I were you I would not wonder how she found IE 6, I would ask my self what kind of idiot would not have her computer set up with malware protection and a newer version of ie (if she is going to find it anyways) Also she probably got tired of all the websites that need ie (even ie6) to run properly.
what about letting your mother-in-law use internet explorer if she desires so?
He was installing FF and Chrome on this Mother-in-Law’s computer.
If that does that make IE the explorer of choice, what does?
All of this is fine, but how come you didn’t think about updating IE6 to IE8 and then hiding it? Why leave an insecure piece of software lying there on the system? That should have been the first stem you should have taken!
Well quit OneNote, HP Printer Monitor and DAEMON Tools?
And upgrade to IE8. She won’t uninstall IE8 as it won’t let her “use the Internet” anymore.
This is the best post TC had in a long time, seem silly and funny but very thought provoking.
Those toolbars steal your information, I’m sure of that.
This is all kinds of awesome. My mother blames every problem with her computer on “that stupid Foxfire [yes, foxfire] you had me install” uninstalls it and goes back to IE and then calls when she has the fake virus alert shit. And then the cycle begins again. And why not Daemon Tools? My mom is 62 and she uses µTorrent.