SP2 problems with in-house application

[Stephen]

We have an in-house application that was built using vbd (Visual Basic
Document - VB forms hosted by Internet Explorer) files. After installing XP
service pack 2, every time a user clicks a button, or does just about
anything in this application, they get the prompt "Do you want to open or
save this file?" from Windows as the application accesses the vdb files from
the local hard drive. The application works fine if you are willing to click
the 'open' button after every prompt, but the prompts occur so often that
the application is rendered unusable.

The author of the application recomends modifying all workstation's
registries with the following entry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MIME_HANDLING]
"iexplore.exe"=dword:00000000

This works, but this worries me. This registry modification would seem to
disable Internet Explorer mime handling for everything, disabling this new
security feature of SP2. There has got to be a better way, yet I've searched
and have not been able to find anything else that works.

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas how we can make this application work
with SP2, yet not cripple security?

Thank you,
Stephen

 

[Steve Riley [MSFT]]

No, the author of your application needs to fix the application's MIME
handling. Refer your author to chapter 5 of the "Changes in
Functionality Guide," specifically the section "Internet Explorer MIME
Handling Enforcement."

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2brows.mspx#EGAA

Steve Riley
(e-mail address removed)