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Microsoft has released a security bulletin and a patch but also suggests that "computers configured to disable active scripting in Internet Explorer are not susceptible to this issue" -- which means I'm safe.

Given the seeming endless list of security flaws that have been associated with bugs in Microsoft's scripting language and the fact that sometimes malicious people are first to discover such holes, I disabled scripting on my web-browsers years ago.

This has the delightful side-effect of ensuring that I don't have to download extra software so as to avoid those hideous pop-up/under ads that are the bane of most web-surfer's lives.

However, the downside of doing this is that there are a growing number of websites that refuse to work when browser scripting is disabled.

So many show-off "web designers" feel it more important that they produce a site that screams "look at how clever I am" rather than one which provides a high level of utility and accessibility.

One thing I've never done is bookmark a website because I just loved its drop-down menus and/or fancy mouse-overs. I bookmark and return to sites because they have good content and are easy to navigate -- even when I've turned off scripting.

Fortunately the web is a big place so if a site chooses to lock me out just because I prefer to keep my PC in a "locked-down" condition rather than operate it as a playground for crackers, then it's their loss. There's always somewhere else to go.

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And don't forget that all that scripting chews up bandwidth too -- something some of the news sites are finding out to their cost now that they're being hammered by websurfers seeking the latest updates on the Iraq conflict.

I was hoping that some maturity and sensibility would eventually prevail and that all web designers would appreciate that even if you do have a fancy scripted drop-down menu system, adding a single line of hypertext menu links to the bottom of each page can make a world of difference to security-conscious surfers.

There's nothing wrong with web designers using scripting to "enhance" a site but it should never be a mandatory requirement for basic navigation and information display. Those web designers who create sites that won't function without scripting are really saying "look how stupid and lazy I am".

Speaking of news sites, it seems that most of them have given up on covering "breaking news" these days.

Last night, when Iraq launched several missiles targeted at Northern Kuwait, I heard about it on TV and rushed to the web to see what the mainstream news sites (CNN, BBC, MSNBC) were saying about it.

They were saying nothing... not a single word.

Thirty minutes later they still hadn't updated their pages to reflect what was really a significant evolution of the conflict. Sorry folks, when it comes to breaking news, the Net, it would appear, is no longer a priority to the news networks.

Note that I'm moving "Lighten Up" to the Monday edition -- so if you've got some gems to share, send them now.

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