Information on Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)
by Goat

          This text is for informational purposes only!

    You may have heard of the "problems" with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 3.0, but whoever told you about it would never be specific about what was wrong with it (or you could be the person not telling people what it is cause you already know all this). The problem with IE 3.0 is that it is a shell. 
    That means it is a median between you and the operating system. You could execute any program from IE by simply typing c: and then it would show you exactly what you would see if you started up windows explorer, in which you could select what you wanted and run it. This has a benifit if you are on an comp running IE and want to get a peek at a program which is restricted (For example an NT's Registry would be nice...) to normal users. 
     There is something else which is a downside to this program. How could just following a .URL file on a webpage hurt you? A web page writer could use .URL files to run programs on your computer. This is pretty bad because it can work even with IE on highest security level.  .URL files can be made by server side scripts to meet with a users settings on his system. The shortcuts can be set to be minimized while they are being ran so users may not even notice the program running. 
     Client Side scripts can use IE to transfer a batch file to the computer and meta refresh to that batch file to execute a command in that file. The file must already be on a computer to be executed but Windows has a selection of damaging programs which can be executed. I would imagine you could do some damage to, or get some information from, a specific computer by writing the script that is taylored to someones specific system and writing the web page and getting them to go to the .URL file using IE 3.0. 
     To do something like that would have many people have a lower opinion of you because malious hackers are unappreciated because damaging something thats not yours is lame.