"White-out" bug in IE 4
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
April 22, 1998, 4:45 p.m. PT
Think of it as a digital white-out attack.
Microsoft is investigating a quirk in Internet Explorer 4.0 that lets a
Java applet paint the computer desktop or any active window white.
The applet only works when IE 4.0 is used with Microsoft's Active Desktop,
which lets users place Web-based images and applets, such as .gifs or
stock tickers, on the desktop.
Users are affected only if they visit a Web site where the applet has been
planted intentionally.
"The Active Desktop has two layers," said IE product manager Craig
Beilinson. "There's the icon layer, with the familiar desktop icons, and
the HTML layer, which lets you add Web stuff to the desktop. While we are
still investigating this issue, it seems as if this Java applet is simply
painting white pixels on top of the HTML layer."
"It's more of a nuisance than anything else," he added. "Nobody's been
hurt by this thing and nobody will be."
The applet gained attention among newsgroup participants when a posting
circulated with a link to a Web page describing the attack.
Beilinson said Microsoft was still looking for a solution to the problem.
He noted that users currently could hit the "control," "alt," and "delete"
keys simultaneously, which will enable them to close IE and get rid of the
problem.
-o-
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Received on Thu Apr 23 18:08:02 1998