deepak | 
10 20th, 2008| 
If you haven’t yet installed Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, here’s another reason to do so: SP2 gives you detailed control of add-ons to Internet Explorer, helping you take back control of your browser and thwart a wide array of spyware attacks.
On the sly or by masquerading as a useful utility such as a toolbar, spyware can infiltrate Internet Explorer, hijacking your browser, bombarding you with ads, and tracking your every move online. Even legitimate add-ons can be infuriatingly difficult to remove once installed on your system.
- To manage add-ons, first make sure you have Service Pack 2 installed. Then launch Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options, and click the Programs tab.
- Click the Manage Add-ons button; you’ll probably be presented with disturbingly long list of add-ons. Go one by one through the list, click anything suspicious, and select the Disable radio button.
Be aggressive in disabling add-ons, especially Browser Helper Objects and Browser Extensions. It’s a simple matter to reenable them if you realize later that you need them.
Of course, you may want to consider abandoning Internet Explorer altogether and switching to an alternative browser such as Mozilla’s Firefox. That will limit your vulnerability to many spyware and virus threats.
