Well, I seem to have found something that may be better.
Instead of changing that:

" change the value of "1004" (DWORD) from "0" to "3"....."

I thought it would make sense if I changed it to "2".  That
file I created will not open now, instead a warning is
displayed asking if I want to run it.  I went to various
other websites and got no warnings out of the norm at all.
Anyone have any comments as to what exactly this was I did
and why that website didn't mention changing it to "2"
instead of "3"?
-Clint

God Bless Us All
Clint Hamilton, Owner
http://OrpheusComputing.com
http://ComputerHardware-ConsumerElectronics.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kaulback" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 10:33 AM
Subject: PCWorks: Ms security hole and work around


A security hole has been discovered which affects all
versions of IE since
version 4 plus OE and Outlook even if Active Scripting and
ActiveX are
disabled in the browser settings.  MS has no patch yet, but
this page here
http://www.theregus.com/content/4/24206.html has more
details.
The site is experiencing heavy traffic so here are the
details:

<snip>
IE, Outlook run malicious commands without scripting
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 03/04/2002 at 08:46 EST
An attacker can run arbitrary commands on Windows machines
with a simple
bit of HTML, an Israeli security researcher has demonstrated.
The exploit
will work with IE, Outlook and OutlooK Express even if active
scripting and
ActiveX are disabled in the browser security settings.

The problem here is data binding, an old 'feature' going back
to IE4 in
which a data source object (DSO) is bound to HTML.

Using an XML data source, the researchers operating a Web
site called
GreyMagic Software came up with a simple example in which a
few lines will
cause Windows to launch the calculator application thus:

<span datasrc="#oExec" datafld="exploit"
dataformatas="html"></span>
<xml id="oExec">
<security>
<exploit>
<![CDATA[
<object id="oFile"
classid="clsid:11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"
codebase="c:/windows/system32/calc.exe"></object>
]]>
</exploit>
</security>
</xml>

You can copy and paste this into a text editor, where
"windows" is your
Windows directory, and name it whatever.htm. Then open the
file with your
browser and watch the calculator launch.

MS has yet to patch the hole, but we've verified that a
workaround proposed
by Axel Pettinger and Garland Hopkins works on the above
example, though
that's no guarantee that it will work on every exploit of
this sort.

Using regedit.exe find the following key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Internet
Settings\Zones\0]
and change the value of "1004" (DWORD) from "0" to "3".

Don't forget to back up your registry before making changes,
even innocuous
ones like this.

You can then re-boot and open the example file with your
browser again to
verify that it fails to launch the calculator. However, the
workaround will
often cause IE to launch a security warning dialog box which
has to be
cleared before you can continue surfing. It tells you that
your security
settings are interfering with your rich Internet experience,
and you can't
tick a box ordering it to stop warning you of what you
already know.

Personally I believe MS does this to discourage high security
settings in
IE which interfere with the rich eXPeriences advertisers have
in store for
you on the Web, and which MS seems inexplicably eager to
vouchsafe. You
don't get sick of the slightly scaled-down functionality; you
get sick of
the endless warnings and eventually capitulate and restore
your settings to
Redmond-approved, and Direct Marketing Association-approved,
levels.

But we digress.

Obviously, there's a slew of malicious activities which can
be attempted
with this exploit, and a slew of people busily working on
them. Thus it
might be prudent to apply the workaround until Redmond issues
a patch -- if
you can stand to be harangued about your security settings at
every turn,
that is. �

<!snip>

Not nice but hopefully it is helpful.

Peter Kaulback
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