IE 7 bugs abound

People didn't lose any time in finding bugs in the latest preview release of Internet Explorer 7.

It's been but a day since Microsoft publicly released a test version of Internet Explorer 7, but Internet news groups and blogs are already teeming with bug reports. Also, one security researcher claims he found a security vulnerability in the new Web browser.

Issues reported several times include compatibility problems with McAfee security software and trouble installing the browser due to unnamed anti-spyware and antivirus tools. Some testers also said using certain features or surfing to specific Web sites caused the browser to hang or crash.

Video: A look at Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft releases beta of latest browser

Microsoft made a preview version of IE 7 beta 2 publicly available on Tuesday, but the product is not fully baked, the company has said. The release is meant to give developers and IT professionals a chance to test-drive the software and give feedback to Microsoft so that the final version, expected later this year, and upcoming test releases, will have no, or at least fewer, issues.

The public preview release of IE 7 includes many of the features Microsoft has been touting for months. Among them are new security and privacy protection capabilities such as mechanisms designed to combat phishing attacks, spyware and other threats.

But browser testers may already be at risk, according to security researcher Tom Ferris. Late Tuesday, Ferris released details of a potential security flaw in IE 7. An attacker could exploit the flaw by crafting a special Web page that could be used to crash the browser or gain complete control of a vulnerable system, Ferris said in an advisory on his Web site.

Microsoft confirmed the security flaw and said it crashes IE, but is not exploitable by default to commandeer a PC, a company representative said on the IE team blog late Wednesday. The bug is scheduled to be fixed before the next public IE 7 release and was actually already found in Microsoft's own code review and analysis, the representative wrote. A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the blog post.

elsewhere on CNET
Download it

Get the IE7 beta and more information at Download.com

Learn about it

Read the review of the beta version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser at CNET.com

Also, the preview version of IE 7 clashes with some security software. Users reported that after they had downloaded and installed the beta, McAfee security software failed to display any text or graphics in their Windows when opened. Reinstalling the applications had no effect, according to the user reports.

"I have McAfee Internet Security Suite on my system, and when IE 7 is loaded, neither work," one tester wrote in Microsoft's news groups. "Surely...getting the system to work with an industry leader is a small price to pay."

Microsoft acknowledged the compatibility issues with the McAfee software in a response on the IE team blog. "The McAfee issue is known, and we'll work on this for a future build," a Microsoft representative wrote on the blog.

McAfee also said it is working to fix the problem with IE 7. "While the issue affects the way in which users view the McAfee interface, McAfee's automated protection is still running and protecting the user's systems," a company representative said in an e-mailed statement.

Other people had trouble installing IE 7 altogether, reporting an error during installation that stated a file called "msfeeds.dll" could not be found. This problem stems from compatibility issues with unnamed security applications, a Microsoft representative wrote in a blog post.

"Some anti-spyware and antivirus software is known to interfere with IE 7's ability to install," a Microsoft representative wrote. The software maker offers a work-around and otherwise recommends users wait until a future IE 7 release that it hopes will address the problem.

[sidewinder]

One bug I found

Going to the CtrlAltDel Premium pages (Blindferret secure pages) causes a BSoD. I was able to recreate the BSoD simply by visiting the page again.

[robertcampbell2]

Read the release notes

They clearly state that there can be problems with https sites.

[1habn1]

IE 7 beta and Comcast High-Speed Internet users

Microsoft has also shut out all Comcast High-Speed Internet users who rely on the McAfee Security Suite from using IE 7 beta. Comcast.net, the home page site of every Comcast HSI customer, requires Internet Explorer.

Comcast is the largest broadband provider in the U.S.

Microsoft *must be* going after the Firefox crowd, because it ain't clear that it's going after the IE crowd, unless IE crowd is defined as "anybody but the biggest group jointly using broadband and IE."

[sidewinder]

umm

Please explain to me how they cut you out? I know comcast users that are using IE7 fine.

Oh really??

"Comcast.net, the home page site of every Comcast HSI customer, requires Internet Explorer."

I can see the page just fine ... on Mac OS X and FireFox. It does not require Internet Exploder. Period.

[thenet411]

McAfee sucks anyway

Go with a REAL antivirus product. Symantec is hands down the best AV solution out there. I have worked with both and McAfee definately has a lot of catching up to do.

[robertcampbell2]

Actually this beta preview is for developers

And MS has been very specific about that. They don't want consumers trying it out yet.

[mcepat]

mcafee does suck

hey here is a thought cheapo, actually buy a good product like www.nod32.com and quit *******

[Zymurgist]

Comcast users don't need IE

I dunno if IE7 works with the Comcast site or
not, but I know you don't need IE to view the
site. I'm a Comcast customer and have been for
some time.

First, Comcast's site is worthless, so it's not
likely to be "every Comcast user's home page" -
it isn't mine. It's possible their technicians
might point you to it since Comcast has the
AOL-like delusion that people want content from
them (most want Internet access). However, I
suspect most people have something else.

Even so, the Comcast site works fine in
Konqueror, Safari, Firefox, and the old Mozilla.
To tell you the truth, I've never looked at it
with IE, so I can't say for certain that it ever
worked properly with IE (though I'd suppose so
-- 80% of Comcast's customers use one or another
version of Windows).

[jhwentworth]

Comcast and Firefox

"Comcast.net, the home page site of every Comcast HSI customer, requires Internet Explorer"

Not true, I've used Firefox and Thunderbird with Comcast. Comcast does limit its technical support for these programs, but they do work. Comcast even provides a guide for configuring them to work.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Please, stop complaining. You asked for it.

Use IE, or any Microsoft product for that matter, get shafted. Plain and simple.

[thenet411]

Typical Mac idiot

What is plain and simple is your lack of intelligence. Go away.

[Jerry Dawson]

No we didn't.

Who ever asked for a M$ anything? You get stuck with it. Most people buy their comnputer from a store and it's all pre-loaded, isn't it. We've tried to stop M$ doing this kind of thing... you know like with Real Player and Exploder... but hey, who cares, you can buy a Mac with again everything pre-installed, right? Now that's what I call choice.

[dgc49]

Oh I don't know about that.....

I'm still using IE 6 and I don't have any complaints with it. My brother uses both Firefox and IE 6. Only difference he has found is with sites that use Active-X. He runs IE with Active-X turned off any way. I on the other hand rely on my security software (ZoneAlarm Pro and NOD32). I even went back to XP SP1 as I don't find SP2 worth the compatability problems it was causing me.

[Grzegorz_Z]

"toolbar" is somewhat buggy.

When I open new tab, the last icon on toolbar always hide after that '>>' mark. Even if there are plenty of space for tabs. Also sometimes when I switch between tabs, some weird window-wide "bar" appears between tabs row and the web page.

In general - new 'user interface' sucks. It is especially true when I look on non-customizable toolbar width "back" "forward" "refresh" and "stop" buttons. I used to old scheme and I simply wanted IE6 UI with tabs added. Nothing more new about UI. Because of that I will probably stay width Firefox.

[robertcampbell2]

Rather then whine about how it sucks

Do something positive, go to the IE Commmunity site, give some feedback and vote on some the changes you'd like to see. Many would definitely like to the IE6 toolbar layout rather then the new one. It's like democracy, you got a voice, use it by voting.

[Azio]

Newsmaker of the century

STOP PRESS! BUGS FOUND IN BETA PRODUCT! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

[Sboston]

Yup

You said it, Beta product. As in this program is not ready for prime time. It is still under testing and we are asking you to help us determine the bugs so we can remove them.

I'm not suprised that there are some bugs. Show me a beta program with out bugs and I'll either call you a lier or try to hire away your Ace programmer. :)

[robertcampbell2]

I find the whole story offensive..

I wish C|net would put one of those "Report as offensive" buttons for whole stories or articles. I use it in a minute for this type of story. The author must be desparate to write a hatchet job on a "preview beta" piece of software. What a freakin' joke.

[Jerry Dawson]

You should get out more often..

Offensive? Surely it's more like 'who cares, what did you expect... duuuuhh'. Thereby missing the entire point of the article, which was to elicit an opinion from those who had been testing it. Which I for one do wanna know!

[Lindy01]

Lol

If if were fire fox they would not tell about the bugs they would tell you how many downloads there were in the first day....and how its hurting Microsoft.

[Scree]

HEH

Well, I find the whole idea of IE 7 offensive! Especially since MS has the resources to have kept it innovative over the years, but failed to do so, so now they have a "user demanded" new version coming with catch-up features they can't even complete in a timely manner (beta3/rc1 in another 6 months??). If ms still allows the ie7 window to be resized by javascript, then it will never touch my system that's for darn sure. lol

[erinmars]

Thanks for the review...can't wait to see what Zeldman has to say...

I am thankful for this story. As a Web application UI designer
and developer, I cringe at the prospect of IE 7 release for the
multitudes that are not aware that they have a choice. Especially
from the view point of working in open source and w3c
specifications for Web page markup. Our team relies heavily on
CSS to manage page display and are weaning our sites from
using tables to force layout. Though we are able to develop our
sites using standard compliant recommendations, IE is by far the
biggest issue that we have in adhereing to these guidelines. It
causes us to go over hours and to hack valid markup. We start
builds on compliant browsers and then once this is refined, we
view in IE to see what whacked-out issues occur there. Funny
that our sites look fantastic on all other compliant browsers -
the only issue is IE. That is a sad state of affairs in 2006.
Meanwhile, we steadily move our clients to Firefox while we wait
for IE to catch up with current browser software. Amazing how
thankful these clients are and how they spread the word to their
friends and family. Other than the neat little enhancement IE
provides MS developers, it is junk to the rest of us. Thankfully,
installing Firefox on Windows is a breeze. I was relieved to read
that the CNET page displayed poorly in IE7 - that means it is not
just our sites that will suffer display issues. Wonder who we
should bill our time to fix issues upon the release? Our clients?
How about MS? Perhaps MS should stick with Xbox which
appears to be a popular item for them. Browser software
obviously is not their gig. Why else would it take so long to
release a new version? Or is it to wait for open-source
developers to write the features such as tabbed browsing. I
would recommend that MS save time and money, grab the
source for FF or Mozilla, slap their remedial UI and brand on it,
and offer it up as IE7. Viola! no more beta and it works
everywhere (with exception to those MS developers that leverage
IE specific features. - the answer for them is to proudly display
that their site ONLY works in IE!) I am certain that a nod to the
developers at Mozilla somewhere in the source is all that they
would need to do to be "compliant"

[JorisEvers]

Why I Disagree

This is the first public preview release of IE 7. It is attracting a lot of attention and many people will be interested in giving it a test run. Of course there will be bugs in it, I say so in the story. But with such a high profile application we deemed it worth writing about those, even if it were only to caution some readers who might not realize IE 7 really isn't ready for mass use. This also in the light of many other "beta" products and Web services (gmail, and before Skype) there that a lot of people use regardless of their beta status.

[Jerry Dawson]

Wimps and wallflowers

Conclusion. So, when anyone from outside the US of A levels a criticism... you all wilt. Shrink and die. You're all thinking, if M$ makes money, so will we. Because you're M$ shareholders, right? If the answer is no, then you won't, and you're in the same ******** as the rest of us. M$ is 100% 'mercan, yeah right, shove it.. M$ is a plague...

[thenet411]

How sad...

You have got to be kidding. You actually posted that to show us all what an idiot you are, right? Please tell me that because if you didn't, your computer needs to be taken away. Moron...

[spammagnet]

Cannot render CNET pages

IE7 cannot place images in the right location on HTML pages such as eBay, and this News.com page of CNet.
Seems like an important thing, as I am getting tired of not being able to read the captions. Oh well, you get what you pay for...

[heystoopid]

Thankyou

Thankyou, rather than be the guinea pig, I'll stick with the more secure and internet standards compliant mozilla style browsers!

Maybe by version 7.5+++ it may be more stable and secure?

[Sboston]

Exactly.

As a normal user you should stay with what you have until the developers that have been asked to test the beta version of the browser have finished and the final version is ready for release.

Developers are the intended target audience, you know that correct?

[lennykutch]

ie 7 BETA.....keyword Beta

IE 7 is BETA! not everything is set in stone yet...i dont get why everybody is going crazy over this. I dont like acouple things that ie7 beta has to offer but thats all that it is right now....BETA! Test it out...try to crash it...do anything you want to it...its for beta testers not your everyday user yet!

[Macsaresafer]

Beta???

Be serious. It's not like it's really a new product. Even with a
complete rewrite, they should have some experience with browsers
by now! If you really want to call any part version 7 of anything
beta, then you have to call everything beta.

[MrTeo]

Beta...no Beta

Tried installing the beta, but in the middle of the installation, it halted telling me there were some missing files, it aborted itself, and died with no IE7 in sight....I suppose I shouldn't expect anything more since it is a Beta, oh well.

[mcepat]

Ya its beta and how about firefox issues?

Title Date
Mozilla Firefox History Information Denial of Service Weakness 2005-12-08

Mozilla Firefox Iframe Size Denial of Service Weakness 2005-10-06

Firefox Multiple Vulnerabilities 2005-09-23

Firefox Command Line URL Shell Command Injection 2005-09-20

Firefox IDN URL Domain Name Buffer Overflow 2005-09-09

Firefox Multiple Vulnerabilities 2005-07-13

Firefox Property Manipulation Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability 2005-07-13

Mozilla / Firefox / Camino Dialog Origin Spoofing Vulnerability 2005-06-21

Mozilla / Mozilla Firefox Frame Injection Vulnerability 2005-06-06

Mozilla Firefox Download Dialog Spoofing Vulnerabilities 2005-05-12

Mozilla Firefox Two Vulnerabilities 2005-05-08

Mozilla Firefox Multiple Vulnerabilities 2005-04-18

Mozilla Firefox JavaScript Engine Information Disclosure Vulnerability 2005-04-04

Mozilla Firefox Three Vulnerabilities 2005-03-24

Firefox "Save Link As..." Status Bar Spoofing Weakness 2005-03-14

Mozilla / Firefox / Thunderbird Multiple Vulnerabilities 2005-03-01

Mozilla / Firefox "Save Link As" Download Dialog Spoofing 2005-03-01

Mozilla Firefox Image Javascript URI Dragging Cross-Site Scripting 2005-03-01

Mozilla / Firefox Three Vulnerabilities 2005-02-08

Firefox / Mozilla / Thunderbird Multiple Vulnerabilities 2005-01-31

Mozilla / Mozilla Firefox Dialog Overlapping Weakness 2005-01-12

Mozilla / Mozilla Firefox Download Dialog Source Spoofing 2005-01-04

Mozilla / Mozilla Firefox Window Injection Vulnerability 2004-12-08

Mozilla Firefox Multiple Vulnerabilities 2004-11-10

Mozilla / Firefox / Thunderbird Downloaded File Content Disclosure 2004-10-25

[SeizeCTRL]

That's funny

I don't remember too many FireFox bugs allowing hackers to potentially take over my entire machine or covertly install spyware/adware on it.

Face it, when you compare the bugs from IE to FF, IE's are much much worse. Mozilla is much quicker to release a patch or update than MS.

[hstahl76]

You have got to be kidding me

Newsflash: It's a BETA. Repeat that word until it sinks in: beta. That means its not a final release and omg, are you ready for this, it will have bugs!

If the final version of IE7 has bugs/flaws then by all means go nuts about stories as they would be deserved. But until then, get a clue CNet.

[mcepat]

Oh and here's a link that provides all the firefox bugs

I believe this is for current version

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Issues_%28Firefox%29" target="_newWindow">http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Issues_%28Firefox%29</a>

I am reading posting that firefox 2.0 STILL IN BETA has tons of bugs (can't believe that!)

when I get this listing I will post

[mcepat]

yes here you go bugs for both versions

I like the name Bugzilla (catchy)

<a class="jive-link-external" href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/" target="_newWindow">https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/</a>

get your daily dose of the buggy exploitable version of firefox, wow theres tons of bugs on that beta version

[spookstaz]

The severity of the bugs matter too.

How often do the bugs actually get in the way? Are they easily exploitable? Do the bugs go unpatched for months on end, like the extremely critical "Microsoft Internet Explorer "window()" Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability"? What is the actual impact of the bugs?

Actually, I expect that most of the time that firefox is overall more secure and less buggy. Yes it has bugs of their own. However it is not a core operating system component, like Internet Explorer is, so Firefox users may encounter fewer "system access" vulnerabilities.

Last time I checked secunia, IE 6 was rated "highly critical", while firefox was rated "less critical".

IE: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://secunia.com/product/11/" target="_newWindow">http://secunia.com/product/11/</a>
Firefox: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://secunia.com/product/4227/" target="_newWindow">http://secunia.com/product/4227/</a>

[thedreaming]

the keyword is beta

It's a beta, not a final release and until then, don't expect it to work 100% of the time. At the same time, they did put it out there so you can see what they've done and also help them find the bugs faster.

If they listen, they'll fix every little problem that people are finding and make ie a worthwhile browser to use. if they ignore people, it'll be the same old thing again.

[Stan Johnson]

If it says beta and your don't know 100%

If it says beta and your don't know 100% you would be wise to wait for the bugs to be worked out for the final release. I don't do beta.

[pentium4forever]

Beta means not all bugs worked out

IE 7 is beta, what can you expect? It's likely to still have some bugs and will need to be worked out. Microsoft should work all the bugs out and not release a final version UNTIL all bugs are worked out.

[SeizeCTRL]

Install Nightmare

IE7 Beta2 would not install on top of Beta1. Got an alert to tell me to uninstall IE7 from Add Remove Programs and to click Show Updates. So I did. Install again, failed, tried again and again, failed. Tells me to check system logs, but nothing in any of my logs suggests why the install goes all the way to the end but decides to fail. Now I can't install IE7 Beta1, or IE6 because the version I have installed is newer. Yet there is no IE at all on my system right now. Just an empty folder minus the ICW folder.

[system001]

ie7 email bug

i installed beta 2 of ie7. after testing it on with sites i visit alot i found my pages loaded very fast. i also receiveds one of the highest scores from dsal reports to date. however when i went to my email and clicked a link i had a folder open instead of the link. once i uninstall ie7 i tried the link again and it opened properly in firefox. i do not believe this is an unknown bug by microsoft. it seems everytime they do a beta of a product that their beta breaks something in a competing product. microsoft needs to learn that they can coexist out there. they do not need to own everything.

[SeizeCTRL]

and

neither will using OS/2 in this day and age ;)

my first ThinkPad came with OS/2 Warp. Those days were painful!

[wethead]

Testing

Testing. Is this thing on?

[reako]

IE7 Install

I have found a way around this trouble installing. 1.Download and save the file to your desktop or wherever. 2.Shut anti-virus and firewall off if any while doing this. 3.Use winzip or winrar have to make and extract all the files to a new folder you make. 4.Restart pc. 5.Go into the new folder and find the update folder. 6. Run the update program and it should now install fine.

[rajeevan_b]

IE7 Beta 2 installation

Hi, I have installed IE7 beta1. When I tried to install beta2, it says to uninstall beta1. But I could not find it in Add/Remove Programs; I have checked show updates checkbox, still it is invisible. How to uninstall IE 7 beta1?

please don't tell me you didn't see this one coming...

why were people even surprised?

and in the related news

It was discovered that IE7 does not do full load of your laundry and makes lousy coffee...

[twoashley]

IE7 & McAfee

I nearly got a scare this morning when I found that my McAfee software was not working... I thought it was some variant of the Kamasutra worm that had taken out my computer, which I considered highly unlikely considering the fact that I had scanned my drives just a day earlier and I hadn't found anything...

I then resorted to an online scan and also used Norton's patch to determine if my computer has been hit.... Again nothing...

And now in the evening as I saw the report in this site.. I got my answer. The culprit was none other than Microsoft.... Just wonderign why they resort to releasing "half-baked" products... It would do their image a lot good if they came out with a product which does nto have any bugs...

Also IE 7 is just a clone of Mozilla ... again a shoddy job was done on it ... the look and feel of the browser is more Netscape / Mozilla than IE...

[Stan Johnson]

duh...it's a BETA

Duh...it is a BETA. If you don't understand the ins and outs of IT work then it was not meant for you! Wait for the final release before bashing MS.

[wanorris]

Yes, but....

Look, I like Firefox too, but it's not inherently safer except in a few narrow areas, like not supporting ActiveX.

The Firefox team definitely does a good job with rapid bugs, but that's less significant than the fact that IE is still 90% of the browser market, so it's the natural target for spyware, viruses, etc.

Firefox is a better browser at this point, but it's certainly not immune to security issues, even catastrophic ones.