Friends don’t let friends use Internet Explorer

Posted by Tim Lambert on January 9, 2005
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According to my logs, about half of the visitors here are using Internet Explorer. There is a critical security hole in Internet Explorer that allows a web site you visit to take over your computer. Secunia has the details and a test to see if you are vulnerable. If you are, the best solution is to switch to another browser. I recommend Firefox. It’s free, has many more useful features than Internet Explorer, and you can have it installed and running in a few minutes. (Via Slashdot. PC World has more details.)

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Comments

  1. #1 ben
    January 10, 2005

    I’ll second that Firefox recommendation, and Gentoo Linux for my favorite alternative to windows. Bit of a PITA for setting up, but well worth it.

    emerge -u world

  2. #2 Jeff Cowdrey
    January 10, 2005

    I am using Mozilla however I do have IE installed. It’s a Mac so I don’t think I’m vulnerable, but If I were would just having IE on my desktop be cause for concern?

  3. #3 Jeff Cowdrey
    January 10, 2005

    Never mind.

  4. #4 Rwellor
    January 11, 2005

    anyone here use the IE extension for firefox? I’m assuming it doesn’t include any built in IE security holes?

  5. #5 Scott Church
    January 11, 2005

    I tried Firefox at home in the hopes of avoiding the IE security issues. But I found it to be dog slow compared to IE, especially for downloads. Given how light it is, this surprised me. I set it up at work also, but this time I tried turning off the Download Manager and setting it to auto-detect my network proxy settings rather than assume direct Internet connection.

    It may be in my mind, but it does seem faster now. Am I on the right track? Any suggestions would be welcome.

  6. #6 bedlam
    January 11, 2005

    Firefox is slower to load because core components of IE are loaded into memory as part of the OS. Once loaded, though, Firefox renders pages more quickly than IE.

    I know of no particular reason why Firefox and IE would differ in speed for downloading files.

  7. #7 Tony D
    January 12, 2005

    Been running Firefox at home now for a good couple of months. Found it to be much faster and cleaner, and far more user friendly.

    Best thing so far: Zero incident’s of spy/malware, likewise viruses (don’t use outlook either)

  8. #8 Francis Xavier Holden
    January 12, 2005

    I have been addicted to OPERA for years. I too find FF slow and bit clunky for some reason.
    Tim – I often set up OPERA to appear as IE to get around some stupid sites. I think a lot of people do this so the actual IE numbers are probably less than appears.

  9. #9 Andrew
    January 15, 2005

    I’ve found Firefox works fine for me. Downloads are always fast for me as well.

    I use Opera in preference because it loads faster and renders faster. However it has a lot of problems with secure sites (eg the SMH or the Commonwealth bank).

    I have had Firefox have it’s home page changed by the lop.com trojan/malware so I don’t think it is immune to problems. Opera has not yet caused those sort of issues.