PhotoStory 3 released

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cari \(MS-MVP\)
  • Start date Start date
Of course, you have to do their "voluntary" compliance stuff.

All that's going to do is screw the honest people. The warez / pirates will
just get it from somebody who already downloaded it. Or the direct download
link will be published somewhere in about 6 more minutes.

And, of course, you have to lower your security settings just to be able to
get through Microsoft's checks. (For example, my security settings are high
enough that I can't get through either of their two checks.)

And they wonder why nobody likes or trusts them...
 
No said:
Of course, you have to do their "voluntary" compliance
stuff.
All that's going to do is screw the honest people. The
warez / pirates will just get it from somebody who
already downloaded it. Or the direct download link will
be published somewhere in about 6 more minutes.
And, of course, you have to lower your security settings
just to be able to get through Microsoft's checks. (For
example, my security settings are high enough that I
can't get through either of their two checks.)
And they wonder why nobody likes or trusts them...
Click to expand...
===========================================
All I had to do was click the Download
button at the following site:

Photo Story 3 for Windows
http://tinyurl.com/555tu

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/2po2o

Digital Image Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/3xxqg
 
John Inzer said:
===========================================
All I had to do was click the Download
button at the following site:

Photo Story 3 for Windows
http://tinyurl.com/555tu
Click to expand...

That link goes to their validation page where it tries to *automatically*
install an activeX control.

The fact that you managed to do it with just a simple click says that your
system has very poor security settings.

It means that you allowed an activeX control to automatically install
without even asking you (assuming it wasn't already installed), and it
definetly means you allowed an arbitrary activeX control to run without even
asking you.

Internet Explorer doesn't really have any safety controls for activeX
controls. They can be marked 'safe' but that doesn't mean they actually
are. The reality is that once you allow an activeX control to run, it can
pretty much do whatever it wants. You just have to hope that it's honest
and safe.

Sounds like your system is pretty open.... Hope you don't visit any warez
or porn site that might try to install a few things you'd rather not have!


If the automatic installation doesn't work, they do offer a manual method.
It downloads a .HTA file that you are supposed to manually run.

But, again, on my system, apparently I have my security settings up high
enough that it can't do the activeX control that way either.

To be honest, I'm rather glad my default settings are that good! Internet
Explorer isn't exactly known for its security.

But that, of course, doesn't mean I'm happy with Microsoft.

Just like their activation, the only people this is really going to bother
are the legit people. (And yes, for the record, I do own XP. I bought it
right off the store shelf.)

PhotoStory 3 isn't that major of an item, but their attitude here is really
is a bad sign of things to come from Microsoft.
 
No said:
That link goes to their validation page where it tries to
*automatically* install an activeX control.

The fact that you managed to do it with just a simple
click says that your system has very poor security
settings.
It means that you allowed an activeX control to
automatically install without even asking you (assuming
it wasn't already installed), and it definetly means you
allowed an arbitrary activeX control to run without even
asking you.
Internet Explorer doesn't really have any safety controls
for activeX controls. They can be marked 'safe' but that
doesn't mean they actually are. The reality is that once
you allow an activeX control to run, it can pretty much
do whatever it wants. You just have to hope that it's
honest and safe.
Sounds like your system is pretty open.... Hope you
don't visit any warez or porn site that might try to
install a few things you'd rather not have!

If the automatic installation doesn't work, they do offer
a manual method. It downloads a .HTA file that you are
supposed to manually run.
But, again, on my system, apparently I have my security
settings up high enough that it can't do the activeX
control that way either.
To be honest, I'm rather glad my default settings are
that good! Internet Explorer isn't exactly known for its
security.
But that, of course, doesn't mean I'm happy with
Microsoft.
Just like their activation, the only people this is
really going to bother are the legit people. (And yes,
for the record, I do own XP. I bought it right off the
store shelf.)
PhotoStory 3 isn't that major of an item, but their
attitude here is really is a bad sign of things to come
from Microsoft.
Click to expand...
===================================
I don't install from the net, I just downloaded the
program to my desktop and installed from there.

Clicking the Download button opens a dialog that
offers a choice of Run or Save.

The program is worth the download and does
not require activation. BTW...it installs separately
from Photo Story 2....go figure.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/2po2o

Digital Image Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/3xxqg
 
John you are not getting the point of "No spam". The MS website which offers
you to download photostory3 installs and runs an activex control prior to
showing the download button. Presumably it just checks whether or not the
windows is properly activated...

The reason you are not seeing that activex security notice may be because
like many other people you must have previously selected to always allow
activex controls from Mcirosoft to be run unhindered or have lowered your IE
security settings to allow all activex controls to be run. If former then
its still pretty safe, however the latter case is not safe. You can check
your security settings from IE>Tools>Internet Options>Security. The slider
there should be at Medium or higher.
 
Rehan said:
John you are not getting the point of "No spam". The MS
website which offers you to download photostory3 installs
and runs an activex control prior to showing the download
button. Presumably it just checks whether or not the
windows is properly activated...
The reason you are not seeing that activex security
notice may be because like many other people you must
have previously selected to always allow activex controls
from Mcirosoft to be run unhindered or have lowered your
IE security settings to allow all activex controls to be
run. If former then its still pretty safe, however the
latter case is not safe. You can check your security
settings from IE>Tools>Internet Options>Security. The
slider there should be at Medium or higher.
Click to expand...
=====================================
Yes...I'm getting it and I don't think it's a big deal.

For those who are skeptical of the download...
bypass it...case closed.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Picture It! Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/2po2o

Digital Image Support Center
http://tinyurl.com/3xxqg
 
Yes...I'm getting it and I don't think it's a big deal.

For those who are skeptical of the download...
bypass it...case closed.
Click to expand...

No, I don't think you did get it. Not until he worded it a bit clearer than
I did.

You don't think it's a big deal that Microsoft is starting to force you to
jump through hoops?

They've stated this is just the first stage. Soon they'll be doing every
patch, every fix, etc. that way. Which means millions of broken warez
copies on the net spewing out virus, trojans, ddos, etc. And Microsoft free
of any legal responsibility or financial responsibility for any web site or
company knocked off line by a ddos.

What's next? A verification everytime you enter their knowledgebase to find
a solution? (After all, they've several times deliberately made sections of
their web site available only to browsers that identify themselves as IE.
Doing a little activeX control check would be a trivial change for them.)

You don't think it's a big deal that the ONLY people this will effect are
the honest people, and that the people who are using warez copies wont be
effected in the slightest, because they'll get it from somewhere else?

This is annoying, but the big issue is that this is just the first. Their
attitudes are definetly not consumer friendly. Nor respectful of their
paying customers.


And finally....

You don't think it's a big deal that apparently you have your security
settings so LOW that things like this can slip right past you??!! You might
want to take a very serious look at your browser security settings!
 
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