timjpriebe — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 12:39:24 +0000

Since it's imbedded, it doesn't have to be an executable, and probably isn't. More likely, it's included in some DLL somewhere. I would imagine that's the case, anyway.

Renegade — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:45:10 +0000

Interesting. So if the "normal" IE is iexplore.exe, what is the "virtual IE"'s filename? It has to reference to something right?

timjpriebe — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:23:44 +0000

I know that the AOL browser does not actually use IE, but it uses a different version of IE that's updated along with IE.

Okay, that makes little sense. Let me start over...

There's actually two "versions" of IE on your computer, and they are two different files. One is the standalone IE. The other is a "virtual IE" for imbedding in programs. The latter's original intent was to preview how web pages would look. This can be used by programs that output automatically generated HTML code, or programs like Frontpage. When it was first developed, its intent was not to be used by other programs to be a full-fledged browser.

Then Microsoft made the deal with AOL that they could use IE technology in their imbedded AOL browser. That "virtual IE" was perfect for the task.

(This information was gained painstakingly over the last year. At work we have had people calling with problems with our site using the AOL browser. I've done extensive research.)

Anyway, I would imagine that MSN uses that same "virtual IE," but I'm not sure. If so, it obviously would have the exact same shortcomings as the AOL browser.

Renegade — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 05:59:28 +0000

Yeah, MSN, AOL are basically the same thing as IE (I think). They're just add ons/modifications to IE.