5 ms·

I think may be you can get away without actually downloading IE8. Use whatever browser you are using and view the source of the page. How are they going to fin

by niyazpk 17y ago

I think may be you can get away without actually downloading IE8. Use whatever browser you are using and view the source of the page. How are they going to find out the browser the you use if you change the User-Agent-String? Anyone up for the challenge without actually using IE8? It would be really funny if someone using firefox/chrome won the prize.

rdj 17y ago
This is going to be a popular idea but I don't think it will work if MS has their act together. You can profile a browser based on things like plugins. Maybe there is a plugin that only works in IE8 and is used for nothing but real browser identificaation. (I think this is what http://www.the41st.com/default.asp http://www.the41st.com/default.asp does)
- niyazpk 17y ago
  I think as far as we are controlling the client, we can make it look like any browser. As far as I know (my knowledge is very limited in this area, please correct me if wrong) there is no way to be 100% sure that the user is using a particular browser.
  - rdj 17y ago
    You are correct that the end user controls what is ultimately sent to MS (or whomever is probing). However, if they are doing something like plugin enumeration or using a java applet to go a little deeper, you then have to know what the request looks like and what info they are expecting. You then have to intercept that request and send back the expected data It's possible, but a little harder and more time consuming than flipping the user agent.
- jonknee 17y ago
  At least in this stage of the game it's simply based on the sent user-agent. I changed Safari's UA to IE 8 and saw the "you're already using IE 8" page. Furthermore, when I visit in Safari on OS X I am prompted to download the incompatible IE 8. Safe to say they aren't using any sophisticated techniques.
cnlwsu 17y ago
User-Agent: "10; DELETE * FROM users --

by niyazpk 17y ago

rdj 17y ago

This is going to be a popular idea but I don't think it will work if MS has their act together. You can profile a browser based on things like plugins. Maybe there is a plugin that only works in IE8 and is used for nothing but real browser identificaation. (I think this is what http://www.the41st.com/default.asp http://www.the41st.com/default.asp does)

niyazpk 17y ago
I think as far as we are controlling the client, we can make it look like any browser. As far as I know (my knowledge is very limited in this area, please correct me if wrong) there is no way to be 100% sure that the user is using a particular browser.
- rdj 17y ago
  You are correct that the end user controls what is ultimately sent to MS (or whomever is probing). However, if they are doing something like plugin enumeration or using a java applet to go a little deeper, you then have to know what the request looks like and what info they are expecting. You then have to intercept that request and send back the expected data It's possible, but a little harder and more time consuming than flipping the user agent.
jonknee 17y ago
At least in this stage of the game it's simply based on the sent user-agent. I changed Safari's UA to IE 8 and saw the "you're already using IE 8" page. Furthermore, when I visit in Safari on OS X I am prompted to download the incompatible IE 8. Safe to say they aren't using any sophisticated techniques.

cnlwsu 17y ago

User-Agent: "10; DELETE * FROM users --