Well, I downloaded Firefox. I switched my gmail over to it, and "Vwalla!" it was fixed.
I tried everything else, everything but the drastic measure of reinstalling my OS. I updated all my ActiveX programs, I switched all the toggles to "enable", and tried to restore the system to before I updated. Nothing changes. My gmail still comes up complaining about enabling ActiveX. I switched it to Firefox, and it works just fine. I mean, there's a few minor problems, but I think I can likely work them out easily enough. It's mostly the way the gmail notifier now works. I'll just remove that program and reinstall it.
But that brought up an interesting idea. As I was looking into the problem, I came across several comments about Microsoft and Norton Antivirus. It seemed to me that the problem arose when I updated my Norton Antivirus, and that's what made me look into this. Everyone seemed to of one of two positions: there's nothing wrong with Norton; or there's everything wrong with Norton. Only a very small minority suggested that there was anything wrong with Microsoft. But there were lots of comments about how other OS's didn't have the virus, trojan, and malware problems that Microsoft programs had. Though a lot of comments were made about Norton being a virus itself, very few mentioned or even noticed that Microsoft made Norton (or such like) a necessary program.
What I concluded was that Microsoft makes it necessary to have virus and invasion protection. When I downloaded Firefox, and saw that it does everything that IE does, but with less computer and ram space, I began to think about the idea of size. Size seems to be related to virus and trojan problems; the bigger the program, the more susceptible.
I've got a 40 gig harddrive, and I don't have any games, no movies, and only an assortment of songs for personal study. So why do I have only a few gig of space left? I could have the Library of Congress on my harddrive easily with 40 gig, and documents is my main interest, so what is taking up most of my 40 gig?
Well, I found a lot of things that my kids downloaded, whether to put on their MP3's, pictures they've exchanged with friends, or whatever, but that would only take up a few gig, I would think. My own songs are not that many, and could easily fit on about 3 or 4 discs. I'm still working on this question. I'm not saying that I know everything that's on my computer. It's a big job investigating this.
But when I looked into other OS's, I found that they can take up a lot less space. And they're not subject to invasions. Am I reading this right? Is the Linux system, for example, really a smaller program, and really exempt from virus, trojan, or malware? Or is it that users of this system don't go into the types of things that invite problems?
(I used the windows program for years without protection before, and had only a few problems. And that came from my kids using the computer, not from my use of it. Each time I was able to resolve the problem somehow. So I know its possible to be a sole user of a computer and not have such issues even with Microsoft. So those testimonies about Linux don't mean much to me.)
Anyways, to get to my questions:
1. Is it possible to download a different OS onto this computer (AMD mobile, XP home, etc.,) replace all the programming to that system, and eventually remove the Microsoft system altogether? or
2. Is it possible to save the Linux OS to disc, format my computer, and do a start-up from the Linux disc? I'll need to be able to access the internet for the programs that I'll need. Is this possible? or
3. Is it possible to partition my harddrive so that I have two separate OS's on my computer? Is this advisable? or
4. Should I just limp along on my Microsoft/Norton system for now, and be happy with adding my Firefox internet program? (I'm not an expert at this, and feel I'm better off waiting until everything crashes, and start over with a complete reboot than trying something that's over my head. But I've still got my old desktop to practice on, so I can try it on that first.)
Just think, all this because Microsoft doesn't like Norton and Google, and they have the same respect for Microsoft. While they're at war with each for my patronage, I remain the least of their concerns, if at all. They don't want to give me any choice, they want to own my computing ability.
Only joshin'...
