OT: Microsoft is really annoying

[Wilhelm Sanke]

The subject of this thread - which was started by me - sounds somewhat 
harsh and unfair, but the ongoing story of annoying popups of phony 
messages transported by the Microsoft Internet Explorer - without having 
been launched by me in each case - reminds me of the fight between 
Microsoft and the EU - the European Union - about forcing Microsoft to 
deliver a Windows platform that is not necessarily tied to an embedded 
Internet Explorer. At the moment I am not fully clear about the outcome 
of the fight. I remember that Microsoft should pay an amount of several 
million dollars, but I do not know, whether they have paid this sum and 
at the same time have changed their strategy.

At least, from my experience during the last days, they have not yet - 
despite all the ongoing automatic updates - implemented the possibility 
to disengage their Internet Explorer from WindowsXP.

A virus scan found 3 viruses on my computer, interestingly two of them 
with names identical to such of Windows system files.
Removing this trojans did not help. After a while the ads via the 
popping-up Internet Explorer continued.

I then thought about deinstalling the Internet Explorer. Using the 
Windows-provided de-installer I was informed that about 150 listed 
programs were somehow tied to the Internet Explorer and that the removal 
of the IE could produce serious damage. Among the programs listed were 
such like "TwistAWord" (scripted in RevTalk), "Aquasoft DIASHOW mobile", 
"Route 66 Sync", "Lua for Windows", "Mozilla Firefox", "Nokia Ovi System 
Utilities", but of course also quite a number of programs which might 
indeed been somehow connected to the IE. I therefore discontinued this 
approach to remove the IE.

I then tried to move the whole IE folder into the trash can. This is 
however impossible!

Next step: I renamed the IE folder. Likewise impossible.

Then: I tried to rename the file "iexplore.exe". This was possible, but 
after a few moments a new copy of the IE appeared in the folder ( this 
was independent of the fact, whether I was connected to the net or not)

Last resort: I created a new folder (named "Hide") and tried to move the 
whole IE folder into that new one. This succeeded to some extent: Most 
of the files of the IE folder were moved into the new one, only file 
"iexplore.exe" itself along with two other files and an extra 
subdirectory refused to be moved.

At least I have now separated IE from a number of accompanying files, 
and since then - so far - no new information about having won a new 
"Toyota SUV", an iPad, or a journey around the world have appeared via IE.

I hope this state will now remain so, but I am not entirely sure.

Regards,

Wilhelm Sanke