IE nixed, Mozilla fixed

So I went on my first Net-inspired blind date last week. I was prepared: I brought a copy of my background check, a DNA sample, and a small clip book of my favorite columns with the jokes highlighted. Really, it wasn’t so bad. She was charming, kind, intelligent, and looked like a bad passport photo of Janet Reno. We chatted, we drank coffee, and then I ran all the way home (leaving my car in the parking lot). It was swell.

X Marks the Spot: My recent items about Web sites not playing nice with non-Microsoft browsers brought forth a torrent of letters. Yes, I know, it’s an ActiveX thing — Mozilla FireFox doesn’t do X natively, which sites like Windows Update demand. But readers came up with several clever workarounds that I will duly repeat here. (I vouch for none of these, since I gave up testing software around the time Philippe Kahn gave up dieting.)

Some Cringesters said the trick to defeating sites that demand Redmondware is to fool them into thinking you’re using IE, even if you’re not. Spoofing tools of choice include the PrefBar plug-in or the User Agent Switcher extension. Other folks have managed to stick their fingers in Internet Explorer’s leaky dike using Winferno's SecureIE or PivX’s Qwik-Fix Pro. And at least one plucky programmer is out there developing an ActiveX plug-in for Mozilla. I’ve gotta admit I have my doubts about that last one. It sounds a little like trying to turn a Volvo into a Pinto.

Share the Love: Sometimes I think my readers are more interested in my love life than I am. Several submitted their favorite pickup lines — which unfortunately I cannot repeat here without sending my editor into an advanced state of cardiac arrest — as well as suggestions for alternate dating sites. (I plan to give GirlsBehindBars.com a try.) I also received a few messages of the hubba-hubba variety from my female readers, which were greatly appreciated. But remember: There’s a reason InfoWorld doesn’t publish my photo.