Our desktops at work have been configured so that we can only use IE to access the Internet. If we try any other browser (Netscape Navigator or Firefox), we get redirected to the corporate homepage by the proxy server. Very irritating to see that when people have realised how (in)secure IE is and have started evaluating other browsers, there are still some people who have their heads buried in the sand. Unfortunately for me, neither Navigator (I could only try version 4.7) nor Firefox allow you to identify themselves as IE. I am going to see if Opera would be able to fool the proxy server.

Did I mention that corporate policy prevents us from downloading and installing our own browsers? I managed to install Firefox by uploading the executable (after renaming it as a PDF file) to my Yahoo Briefcase from home and then downloading it at work. Just goes to show that there is no way to stop someone who is determined enough to get what he wants. I am going to use the same modus operandi to install Opera as well.

The reason I am hell-bent on replacing IE is that I am not able to open any link in a new window. Googling this problem indicated that a solution is to re-register some six or seven DLLs and verifying some registry settings, but none of these worked. The next option is, of course, to reinstall IE. The fact that I lack admin privileges in my PC (another corporate policy directive) and have to run behind the admins to even empty my recycle bin (just kidding) makes me even more angry.