What is Microsoft Silverlight and why do I need it?

@ dybanitedave...did you even proofread your post?

Looks like you were drunk when you posted this garbage.

NOT ONE of my friends trust MS IE because of a security flaw that has plagued IE since version 4 and they had no idea as to how to fix it...Same with OUTLOOK EXPRESS. It was so broken and patched that they could not see the "cloth under the patches", so they discontinued it and abandoned it in favor of Microsoft Live Email and MS Live Essentials.

BTW, WOT (web of trust) has been out for FireFox for years...it is just now being implemented for IE which kinda makes your "security" statement about IE ludicrous, being that WOT was designed for FireFox and was "ported" to IE for what? To make it more safe?

IE 11 MAY be as secure as you say, but most old school techs and geeks would rather shy away from IE in any form than take another chance.

I am currently typing this on Windows XP sp3 with the Pale Moon derivative of FireFox, but I'm here to tell you that this is the last MS OS that will ever go on any of my machines.

I have already Loaded Linux Mint KDE 64 bit on my other machine, and am very happy with it. It comes with tons more software than MS ever offered, and it is totaly free, from dvd burning, to media payers to text to speech programs...oh yea, did I mention that it's all free> That includes the OS. The popular Linux distros are free Like Linux Mint, OpenSuse, Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, etc, Comming from Windows, I would recomend Mint Cinnamon edition. Did I mention that Mint 17 is an LTS OS? LTS is short for "Long Term Support" and as Mint 17 just came out, it will be supported till 2019. So you can install Linux and be just as safe (even more so) as you would be in Windows

I may abandon Windows altogether and delete it from my Xp machine, as I'm getting tired of useless programs that annoy me, like I no longer use outlook express, but it still wants me to compact my email, I keep saying cancel, but everytime I start Windows Live mail, or when I start this computer, it asks if I want to compact my mail....HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY NO?

I'm so done with Microsoft and their antics

This also may be my last post here, as I see no point in supporting an OS that doesn't give any choice.

GO LINUX!

Thank you for your input. I have given up on it. If it's for developers, I can't believe I am one and therefore, perhaps I don't need it. That definition is quite vague and even though I haven't looked at the site, I'm betting it would make for more confusion than resolution. I'll be with my sons next week, and they are a lot more computer savvy than I am. Perhaps they will have a logical answer. If so, and if I can understand it, I'll try to remember to post it. Thanks again.

1st off IE has updated to 11 now and has more security features than any other browser. Firefox add-ons as soon as you download and open is infected with spyware malware rootkits and more. Anyone using Firefox is either not computer litterate or just plain stupid. Why do you think IE is installed automatically when yed ou are infectou know y te, and next thingou install operating system? Because it is safer!!! Newest add-on WOT (Web Of Trust) warns you of 3rd party sites luring you in to download from their site. Itings and red means do not click or you will hae computer probe is safe, yellow has some bad rat acts like lems. Hope this helpsa stoplight, when you search it has either a green yellow or red circle next to each link. Green says site is safe, yellow has SOME bad experiences and has some sort of malicious program in it, and red says BAD SITE do not click on link. Some sites when you goto will warn you before page is displayed and gives you the option to enter or not and check what others experienced on that site. Hope this helps

Why does Microsoft automatically keep updating my system without asking me first?  It would be nice if they gave me an option on which updates I want, as well as a brief explanation of what they do.  You automatically assume we accept everything you feed us.  Would be nice if you gave us some options.  Pretty arrogant, actually.

1st, turn off automatic updates, then when MS says updates are ready, click the button and choose "custom" install...this will let you look at the list of updates and you can uncheck any and all updates and click next, and you should be good to go.