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Last
updated May 2011, with newest comment at top
Reader Response to Barbara's Article,
Paul Jenson wrote: "Thanks for your helpful article on Alexa. I have been doing a
lot of SEO work for the past few years. Each and every time I download the Alexa toolbar to help make it easier for me to view my Alexa ratings for the
websites I’m working on, my computer mysteriously begins having unexplained IE
crashes and failures to launch, so I uninstalled the Alexa toolbar as thoroughly
as possible.
"The Alexa 'What's related' CLSID is part of a normal Internet
Explorer install. It will always be restored if you repair IE, or when
you install certain updates. All that the bare IE Alexa entry does,
i.e., without the Alexa toolbar being installed, is to add the 'What's
related' option to I.E. Some people have concerns about this, as it
tracks your browsing habits. It is quite safe to delete if you don't use
the 'What's related' function."
In further communication with John, he linked me to Alexa’s mile-long privacy page, which you should read before installing this program. "You cannot have better than from the horse's mouth," he wrote. Re my Internet Explorer problems, he added, "It can be a right bugger and all those supposed young experts in the shops and similar really have very little idea about getting it right. If you run into IE problems, just click to delete IE, and you will then be given the option of repairing the installation. Windows will not allow IE to be deleted because Windows itself is based on the Explorer part and would cease to function otherwise." A Few Words about Internet Explorer 7 I used IE 6 for a long time because it worked for me. I finally downloaded IE 7 when I bought a new computer, but I am currently avoiding downloading IE 8 because every time I download the latest update, I have a new set of problems with IE. Soon after IE 7 was introduced, several of my Web business friends reported that, after downloading IE 7, they experienced a number of serious computer problems, including complete crashes. Like all new Microsoft products (particularly VISTA), it’s prudent to wait as long as possible for all the bugs to be worked out. (There are now more than two million Web pages with the words "Vista problems crashes," and 235 million pages for "IE crashes.") The latter probably explains why more and more people are using Mozille Firefox as their browser. You can download this free browser here. I think we all need at least two browsers, if only to give us two different view of our blogs or websites. I have set up IE to open to this website, and Mozilla to open my blog site, so I always know if there is a problem with either site when I begin each day. John (quoted above) recommended Avantbrowser as an alternative to Internet Explorer, but I haven’t tried this one yet. "Avant’s browser allows all that ‘Flash’ advertising to be removed from webpage downloads," John advised, adding that "If you’re paying for Broadband, this could be cost effective. I like it because, unlike Opera, it provides the only true full screen browser with easy access to the tool bars when required. If you do use Avant, go to View and click on full screen. The toolbars will then sit off-screen at the top and bottom until you mouse around the top and bottom. (There is a lot more to the browser than just full screen and flash removal.)" See also the response from Alexa's Customer Service Department.
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