dropmyrights

Web sites acting up? Try repairing Internet Explorer

Are one or more web sites not doing what they're supposed to be doing?

My knee-jerk reaction would be try another web browser. Internet Explorer users should install Firefox if for no other reason than this. Rather than debug a problem, it's easier to work around it when possible. If you've never used Firefox before, I suggest starting with the portable version. It's less intrusive.

Windows XP users with a mis-behaving instance of Internet Explorer, should read Microsoft's Knowledge Base article How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer in Windows XP.

One of the suggestions … Read more

Restricting insecure applications

Back in August I wrote about a free security program for Windows XP called DropMyRights. It comes from a trusted source, requires no maintenance, and incurs no overhead.

DropMyRights works by front-ending an application. To use it with Internet Explorer for example, you make a shortcut to DropMyRights and modify the shortcut to include the full path to the IE executable. When DropMyRights runs, it, in turn, invokes Internet Explorer. But, as the name implies, it first lowers the "rights" for IE. Thus, even if you are logged onto Windows XP as an Administrator, IE will run with … Read more

DropMyRights part 3: Living with it

The first posting of this three part series on DropMyRights explained what the program is and why, I think, everyone running Windows XP should use it. The second part covered the somewhat unusual procedure for installing and configuring DropMyRights. This final posting describes using Windows XP after DropMyRights has been installed, and responds to some reader comments.

Although I have only discussed using DropMyRights with Windows XP, it also works with Windows Server 2003. It does not work with Windows 2000. On a technical level, it should work with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, however there isn't the … Read more

DropMyRights part 2: Installing and configuring

This is a follow-up to my previous posting about DropMyRights, where I tried to make the case that every Windows XP user should use it.

You can download DropMyRights either from Microsoft or from CNET's Download.com.

What is downloaded is an MSI file rather than the usual EXE. Double-click on the MSI file to start the DropMyRights setup wizard. The wizard is pretty standard--you agree to the license, then select an installation folder. Interestingly, it defaults to installing DropMyRights in a subdirectory of My Documents (MSDN\DropMyRights) rather than the usual C:\Program Files.

After final … Read more

Every Windows XP user should drop their rights

If you are running Windows XP, you should install the free DropMyRights program. Hopefully this posting will convince you of this.

DropMyRights is a free program that greatly increases the security of Windows XP and has not gotten the attention that I think it deserves. Everyone running Windows XP should use it. Yes, everyone.

Windows, Macs and Linux all support the concept of restricted and unrestricted users. Restricted users are limited in the changes they can make to the system, perhaps the biggest restriction being on installing software. Windows unrestricted users are called Administrators, with Macs and Linux the sole … Read more