Trouble
report 684
Internet Explorer may display a
security warning for web pages containing a VR image
Versions affected
All versions starting with 3.0
Description
When you request The Panorama Factory to preview a web page, it opens
in your web browser.
If you use Internet Explorer, web pages containing VR images may
display a security warning when previewed on your local computer. You may
see a message similar to one or both of the following:
"To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has
restricted this file from showing active content that could access your
computer. Click here for options..."
or
"Allowing active content such as script and ActiveX controls
can be useful, but active content might also harm your computer. Are you
sure you want to let this file run active content?"
This problem occurs only with Internet Explorer and only when the HTML
file is on your local computer. HTML files on web servers are unaffected
and other browsers are unaffected. One solution to this whole problem is
to use a different browser, e.g. Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox, Opera, etc.,
for testing your VR images.
Microsoft added this warning message with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Discussion
The Panorama Factory's HTML files use JavaScript to control the
operation of VR viewers. Windows Service Pack 2 introduced new security
popup messages whenever JavaScript is used in an HTML file on your local
computer.
The logic behind this warning is that active content (Javascript,
ActiveX, Java, etc.) in a web page has more freedom when run from a web
page in a local file. Web pages downloaded from an internet web site run
in a more restricted security zone that prevents many potential malicious
actions. However, the local security zone is less restrictive than the
internet security zone. So according to Microsoft, viewing local web pages
is
more risky than viewing internet web pages!
The new security warnings in Windows XP Service Pack 2 have
significantly impacted the use of local HTML pages. It seems that you must
accept the warnings about JavaScript content in order to have the VR
viewers work properly in Internet Explorer when displayed from a local
file.
NOTE: The security warnings are only displayed when you
open the web page from a local file. Internet Explorer will not show
the messages when your web page is displayed from an internet web site.
Workaround
Other than using a different web browser, there is no workaround for
this problem. You must accept the warnings about JavaScript content
in order to have the VR viewers work properly in Internet Explorer when
displayed from a local file.
The Panorama Factory V4.4 attempted to workaround this problem by
adding the Mark of the Web to its web page templates. Unfortunately,
this change caused PTViewer pages and thumbnail index pages to fail under
some circumstances.
Therefore in V4.5 the Mark of the Web has been removed from the web
page templates. It is apparently not possible to simultaneously
avoid the security warnings and have PTViewer pages work when displayed
from local files through Internet Explorer.
Refer to the following trouble reports for background information about
the addition of the Mark of the Web to the V4.4 templates.:
Disabling the security warnings
These security warnings were new with Windows XP Service
Pack 2. And they only appear for HTML files on your local computer disks.
They do not appear when the HTML files are displayed from a web server.
It is possible to disable the security warnings in Internet Explorer.
However, we do not recommend disabling the warnings. Microsoft
beleives they are important messages. They think, perhaps, that the
security warnings help
protect you from malicious HTML files that make it onto your computer. It
is not possible to turn off the warnings for The Panorama Factory's HTML
files without turning them off for HTML files from other sources.
You
must decide carefully whether to turn the security warnings off.
Again, we do not recommend turning off the warnings. However, for
completeness, we include the instructions here:
- Start Internet Explorer.
- Open the Internet Options dialog box from the Tools menu.
- Choose the Advanced tab.
- Scroll to the bottom of the Settings to the group titled "Security".
- Place a checkmark in the box "Allow active content to run in files
on My Computer".
- Click OK.
This eliminates the security warnings and returns Internet Explorer to
the way it worked before Service Pack 2.
Status
The default preview template was updated in V4.5 to show information
about the security warnings.
We would like to find a more graceful workaround for this problem, but
we are not optimistic.
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