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Microsoft Releases Changelist for Upcoming XP SP2
kylef writes "As we know from independent sources, Microsoft is busy readying Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. They have published on their website a changelist document (link goes to TechNet download page) detailing the nature of the security-related fixes and updates. The document is targeted towards XP admins and covers some interesting things such as the new Internet Explorer Pop-up Manager and various security policy changes. Some other juicy tidbits from the document: Internet Connection Firewall will be enabled by default, and there will be new support for something called "Execution Protection" which allows developers to make use of the NX (no execute) page guard flag on Intel's Itanium and newer AMD processors. An interesting read."
Did you RTFA? (I hate saying that, it makes me feel .. like all the other assholes who say that)
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Internet Explorer Pop-up Manager
Q. What does Pop-up Manager do?
A. Pop-up Manager blocks most unwanted pop-up windows from appearing. Pop-up windows that are launched when the end user clicks a link will not be blocked.
End users and IT administrators can let specific domains launch programmatic pop-up windows. Developers will be able to use or extend the pop-up functionality in Internet Explorer for applications hosting Internet Explorer.
Q. Who does this feature apply to?
A. For end users, browsing the Web will be less annoying, because unwanted pop-up windows will not automatically appear.
For Web developers, Pop-up Manager affects the behavior of windows opened by Web sites, for example, by using the window.open() and showHelp() methods
For application developers, there is a new user interface: InewWindowManager.
Applications that use the rendering engine in Internet Explorer to display HTML can choose to use or extend the Pop-up Manager functionality.
It opens in StarOffice just fine.
I have been pwned because my
I read the document and apparently the pop up blocker is crap. Here's why
ustomers will still see pop-ups launched in the following cases:
The pop-up is opened by a link which the user clicked.
The pop-up is opened by software that is running on the computer.
The pop-up is opened by ActiveX controls that are instantiated from a Web site.
The pop-up is opened from the Trusted Sites or Local Intranet zones.
I sense an increased use of ActiveX by ad-ridden websites in the future. What this is really, is not a way for MS to help out the user by eliminating annoyance. It is a strategy to get everyone who wants pop up ads on their site to use ActiveX. And hopefully when they're using ActiveX they'll make important parts of their site with it. Like say, the navigation bar. I'll stick to Firebird tyvm.
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