New member needs advice

[cpdrew]

Hi! This is my first time at this site and my first post. I hesitate to ask my question as I hope it is not a dumb one. Here goes:

Can anyone advise me on how to handle EXPLORER.EXE in regards to Internet access?

I have:

Windows98SE

Zone Alarm Pro

Cable Internet access

I read a few places that EE does not require internet access. So, I blocked it and could not connect to the internet. I allowed it to access trusted zone-my ISP.

That appeared to work until Until I raised my Program Control on ZA to high. The bottom line here is that without giving full internet access to Explorer.exe I cannot function on the internet. Could not sent mail. When viewing my log EE showed up a couple times as having tried to access the internet through other programs. Of course the obvious answer is to allow it all for EE but I also read somewhere that EE is often used by hackers and be carefull about allowing it full access to the internet.

Needless to say I'm so confused. Can anyone help? Or guide me to a place where I can get answers? My ISP is a last resort since their customer support has been of no help in the past.

Thank you for any and all opinions.

[tguy]

Have you considered using another Internet Browser like Firefox or Mozilla to access the Internet.

It appears that Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer are very tightly integrated. Disabling a feature in one, say IE, often disables the feature in the other.

Thanks MS.