Internet explorer - a safe alternative ?

theloft

Germany have advised BB users to find an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer, as they deem it unsafe in the wake of the recent Google attacks by hackers. Microsoft are denying that it is unsafe and saying that if users turn up the Security to "high" this will solve it. Unfortunately this blocks some sites and reduces functionality in others. Is there a safer web browser (Mozilla) that is as easy to use as IE and is it a seamless changeover ?
Any advice welcomed.

Abbafan1972

I would recommend Firefox without a doubt. You can transfer all your bookmarks and stuff from IE with no problems.

bc3000

You could try Chrome? I don't know how safe it is but I've been using it But Firefox is good, with lots of add ons and stuff so you can make it more secure

jadziad

Firefox is fine, but if you hit a site which has malware on it and you have old versions of Adobe Reader or Adobe Flash, your PC is still likely to get infected.

You can check your version of Flash here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html - remember to UNTICK the tickbox for extra software like "McAffee Security Scan" etc if you download the latest version. Note that there are separate downloads for IE and Firefox.

You don't really need Adobe Reader - it's huge and has a long history of security flaws. Uninstall it and replace with Foxit Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) or PDF-XChange Viewer (http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/). Be sure to disable Javascript in the options of both - you will probably never need it.

The "best" method of selectively trusting sites in Firefox is to use the NoScript extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722 - there will be an initial bit of annoyance as you have to permit several domains on some web sites to get them working, but my mother and sister use it with ease.

"Adblock" is also a very useful extension for Firefox, which as well as getting rid of adverts also helps a little from a security perspective, as some third-party advertising companies sometimes get compromised, resulting in thousands of PCs getting infected at once. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

Along with Microsoft Security Essentials as a realtime antivirus program (http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/), if you use Firefox with NoScript *and* keep Flash up-to-date, then you'll be immune to most things unless you end up getting infected by new malware via USB sticks or email attachments etc.

negg

The main competitors are:

1) Internet Exploder
2) Mozilla Firefox
3) Opera (opera.com)
4) Google Chrome

jadziad

negg wrote: »

The main competitors are:

1) Internet Exploder
2) Mozilla Firefox
3) Opera (opera.com)
4) Google Chrome

Negg - your image at clients.bilstone.co.uk:2082/images/awstats/browser/chrome.png is prompting me & probably everyone else for a password.

espresso

jadziad wrote: »

Negg - your image at clients.bilstone.co.uk:2082/images/awstats/browser/chrome.png is prompting me & probably everyone else for a password.

It's not negg here it's kwikbreaks here

:rolleyes:

Inactive

jadziad wrote: »

Negg - your image at clients.bilstone.co.uk:2082/images/awstats/browser/chrome.png is prompting me & probably everyone else for a password.

Indeed, same here.

espresso

Inactive wrote: »

Indeed, same here.

Except it's not negg.

spud17

Still doing it.

Cheers espresso, I was starting to think that someone had infiltrated my Win 7 via Firefox and Noscript.

Edinburghlass_2

Post removed, should be okay now?

Can someone check the link in expresso's post please as it still shows up for me, for everyone else it should be an invalid link.